It is and remains the undefeated king of communication tools in German companies: e-mail. Thousands of electronic letters are sent back and forth every day, a large proportion of them via Microsoft Outlook, which still enjoys great popularity as software for sending and receiving e-mails. But what about when emails need to be encrypted for security reasons? Do teams need complex additional tools for this, or can encryption also be carried out directly from Outlook? We explain it in the blog.
There is no way around e-mail in Germany: no other means of communication is used more frequently in German companies. On average, every German receives 26 professional e-mails per day. The advantages are obvious: e-mail communication is fast, efficient and traceable. While various instant messaging services are not equally available to all contacts, even companies that are otherwise not much into digitization can be relied upon to receive electronic mail. In short, the popularity of e-mail is and will remain unbroken.
The problem with security
However, it becomes problematic when sensitive data has to be sent by mail. Unlike many instant messengers, which use particularly secure end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by default, many users are satisfied with TLS (transport layer security) when sending e-mails. In principle, this is not wrong for the time being – after all, communication is encrypted here as well. However, TLS only provides encryption between each individual user and the respective service provider. The provider thus has at least theoretical access to the decrypted data before it is transmitted to the recipient in encrypted form again, if necessary. However, this may not be sufficient for anyone who likes to send business-sensitive or security-relevant data, documents or files by e-mail.
But how can e-mails be encrypted end-to-end? And how time-consuming is that? After all, not every employee has the know-how or the time to use cumbersome encryption tools to send e-mails. The good news is: this is not even necessary. With the right plugin, e-mails can be fully encrypted with E2EE without employees having to leave the familiar Microsoft Outlook user interface. This also increases acceptance within the company, as teams do not have to adapt to new processes, but can send encrypted e-mails directly from their familiar environment.
Encrypt emails in Microsoft Outlook with epiKshare
Being able to encrypt emails end-to-end directly in Microsoft Outlook is a key feature of the epiKshare Suite. Using our in-house plugin, you can send your data directly from Outlook via your epiKcloud. The handling is particularly easy and fits seamlessly into existing workflows. In addition, once you have sent attachments, you can also edit them at any time afterwards by removing or adding files. This makes sending a lot of subsequent emails obsolete if, for example, you have forgotten a document in the attachment. Furthermore, sharing data with epiKshare is particularly secure: shared attachments can only be viewed by people who have the necessary login credentials. In addition to SSL-encrypted sending, all your data is end-to-end encrypted. You can also set validity limits on all attachments, if required, and thus restrict access for a limited period of time.
Request your free trial right now or find more information about mail sharing with epiKshare at https://www.epikshare.com/en/ware/outlook-add-in/.
