My company wants me to set up secure/encrypted email services for some of the employees. I know very little about this topic and was hoping some of you might have some suggestions.
Current setup:
- Hosted email service (Network Solutions)
- POP, mostly, but can also do IMAP and webmail
- Outlook 2003 and 2007
- 8 offices in different cities
- about 55 mailboxes
I've tried two things so far: "Network Solutions MessageGuard" and "Thawte Personal E-mail Certificate".
- Network Solutions MessageGuard - Relatively easy to set up, use, and centrally manage, but there doesn't appear to be an applet that is compatible with Outlook 2007. Also, secured message cannot be kept in your inbox because they're only viewable by logging into a secure NetSol webpage. Recipients must set up a user name and password so that they can log in to the NS website in order to view the contents of encrypted messages.
On the plus side: You can send secure messages from both Outlook and webmail.
- Thawte Personal E-mail Certificate - More hassle to set up. Not easy to centrally manage. In order to begin sending encrypted messages with someone, you have to obtain the recipient's certificate by exchanging digitally signed messages. Next, you have to make sure that the recipient's certificate is stored in a Contacts entry. Can't view or send secured messages via the NS webmail client.
On the plus side: Free. Once everything is configured, there's less hassle sending and viewing encrypted email when using Outlook.
Would I be better off going with an in-house Exchange server? Would I need just one certificate for everyone, or would I have to get one for each user?
Any suggestions?
Current setup:
- Hosted email service (Network Solutions)
- POP, mostly, but can also do IMAP and webmail
- Outlook 2003 and 2007
- 8 offices in different cities
- about 55 mailboxes
I've tried two things so far: "Network Solutions MessageGuard" and "Thawte Personal E-mail Certificate".
- Network Solutions MessageGuard - Relatively easy to set up, use, and centrally manage, but there doesn't appear to be an applet that is compatible with Outlook 2007. Also, secured message cannot be kept in your inbox because they're only viewable by logging into a secure NetSol webpage. Recipients must set up a user name and password so that they can log in to the NS website in order to view the contents of encrypted messages.
On the plus side: You can send secure messages from both Outlook and webmail.
- Thawte Personal E-mail Certificate - More hassle to set up. Not easy to centrally manage. In order to begin sending encrypted messages with someone, you have to obtain the recipient's certificate by exchanging digitally signed messages. Next, you have to make sure that the recipient's certificate is stored in a Contacts entry. Can't view or send secured messages via the NS webmail client.
On the plus side: Free. Once everything is configured, there's less hassle sending and viewing encrypted email when using Outlook.
Would I be better off going with an in-house Exchange server? Would I need just one certificate for everyone, or would I have to get one for each user?
Any suggestions?