Tools of the Trade
After years on the market, E-mail encryption products are finally easy to use and affordable.
Still relying on that disclaimer at the bottom of your e-mail to keep the contents confidential? If so, it’s risky business, say technology experts.
E-mail is inherently vulnerable to interception — by outsiders sniffing for particular information, U.S. security officials screening for potential terrorist plots, or an employee on the make. In electronic terms, it’s the equivalent of sending a postcard that anyone can read en route.
Among the trillions of e-mails sent each year, the chances a given message will be intercepted are slim. But the stakes are high.
“All you need is that one piece of information about that one particular deal for somebody to make a tremendous amount of money — or for that matter, somebody to damage it tremendously,” says Chris Erickson, Executive Vice President of Echoworx Corporation, a security software developer.
Enter e-mail encryption. Although the technology has been around for several decades, until recently it was too expensive and too much hassle to use. Now low-cost products are available allowing users to encrypt a message with the click of a button.
While it’s not up to lawyers to tell their clients how to communicate, they should be prepared to respond if asked for more secure communication lines.
According to Erickson, that demand is increasing. “People are starting to say that data has to be kept private, whether it’s sitting on a hard drive or it’s travelling through the Internet in an e-mail,” he says.
David Fraser, a privacy lawyer at the Halifax office of McInnes Cooper, suggests keeping the following factors in mind when shopping for an encryption system:
Ease of use, even for technologically challenged lawyers: “If it’s not easy to use, as with any technology, it’s not going to be used,” he says.
Compatibility with clients’ systems: There’s no point in sending an encrypted message if the client can’t read it. Look for interoperable systems using widely accepted standards such as PKI, X.509 certificates and S/MIME.
Security and robustness: Look for systems based on open standards, which tend to be less vulnerable than proprietary systems because the best minds in the field have had a chance to scrutinize them. Conversely, beware of vendors that encrypt messages on their site, leaving it vulnerable to interception on the way there.
—Julie Stauffer
From National Magazine, July/August 2007.
Neither the author nor the CBA should be construed as endorsing any product or website listed in this article. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CBA.
In this document, any reference to "jurist" or "lawyer" includes, where appropriate, "Québec notary". |
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