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Don’t Send Another Email… Until You Have Read This.

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Don’t Send Another Email… Until You Have Read This.

Email Security and Your New Business Venture

Since you are browsing this site I guess you may have just started a new business venture. Now I’m sure you’re very used to sending emails to your friends, colleagues and business associates, but have you ever stopped to consider just who else might be reading the email you send? Well for a start Google might be. If you are using their Gmail service then make that a definite yes! Really, Google routinely scan and read emails they handle! Google have stated this in their submissions to hopefully dismiss a class action lawsuit that accuses them of breaking “wire-tap” laws.

Google’s take on this sorry affair goes like this; “Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their communications are processed by the recipient’s ECS (electronic communications service) provider in the course of delivery.” What this analogy fails to acknowledge is the fact that when an assistant opens their boss’s mail they do so with the prior consent of their boss and they are subject to confidentiality agreements, if not specific most certainly implied by their position. Conversely Google can make no such claim, because they explicitly share that scanned information with the National Security Agency’s (NSA) under the provisions of the Patriot Act. Privacy does not exist and never really did when communicating by email, since you are just starting a new business venture why not consider from the off that you will make a conscious effort to ensure that your email correspondence remains confidential.

Getting A Grip of Your Email

I have been banging-on for years now that writing to someone via email is akin to writing a postcard. The content of the email just like a postcard can be read on route. Keep your business communications confidential, secure is not difficult these days and while your thinking about this make sure you consider securing your file exchanges too.

Securing email is easy; all you need to do is encrypt it! No don’t stop reading. If you have looked at email encryption in the past and concluded that it was all to complicated, time consuming and costly, think again. Modern encryption products have become very user friendly.

So where do you start? There are an incredible number of email encryption products out there, just try Googling the phrase “email encryption” you will get 59,600,000 hits! That’s an awful lot of options so how are you going to pick the right one? Well hopefully that’s where I can help. I have had twenty plus years involved with encryption products many of those spent as an MD of a software development company that actually developed encryption software and no I have no axe to grind here, I’m no longer involved in that business.

Right I’ve got that out of the way, so what should you be looking for? That’s easy too; it should be both easy to use, independently certified as secure, inexpensive and not be a barrier to someone who doesn’t currently use the same product (you don’t want to be sending encrypted emails to business associates who then can’t open them without buying into the same solution). To my mind there is just one clear winner, take a look at Egress Switch. This is state of the art email encryption at it’s best and it’s British! It will also take care of the nutty problem of secure file exchange either by their Cloud based service or if you prefer by encrypted CD ROM or USB Drive.

If you currently exchange large files via a Cloud based service it is a real benefit having that service based in the UK. Especially now we are all aware of the problems with US based services that I mentioned earlier.

Do It Today

Now you know how easy it can be, where to go and try it, you really should start using encryption today. Get secure, it will reflect on you and your business as true professionals and the cost to you will be minimal and free to your business associates. The cost of not securing your web based business correspondence and file exchanges could be catastrophic; the loss of your reputation.

I am the founder of Startup Today. I am the main writer and have put in many hours of work into creating this blog. If you want to find out more about me then lets get in contact.

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