Crypto Politics|E-Mail-Sicherheit Archive

Chiasmus replacement with GreenShield: VS-NfD approval now also for password-based file encryption

by cryptovision | Apr 1, 2021 | Crypto Politics|E-Mail-Sicherheit

Handling VS-NfD classified information becomes much more convenient if you can encrypt it as a file or send it securely by e-mail. However, government agencies and companies may only use products with government VS-NfD approval for this purpose. GreenShield from cryptovision is one of the few solutions that has already met this requirement for several years.

The GreenShield offering consists of GreenShield Mail (end-to-end email encryption) and GreenShield File (file encryption). GreenShield first received approval for the processing and transmission of VS- NfD (as well as EU and NATO restricted) classified information back in December 2018, and in March of this year, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has now also approved the current version with numerous updates.

Password-based, symmetric file encryption

One application widely used by public authorities and companies is file encryption: until now, the file encryption program Chiasmus has been used to encrypt and pass on VS-NfD-rated information. However, the approval of this software expires at the end of 2021 and will not be renewed. GreenShield is ideally suited to replace Chiasmus. In addition to asymmetric encryption and decryption using key pairs (consisting of a public and a private key), the current GreenShield version also supports symmetric encryption for file encryption. In this variant, the sender and receiver do not exchange public keys, but agree on a password.

Virtual Desktop support

GreenShield scores not only with high usability, but also with support for various smart cards. In the current version, the approval of GreenShield has also been extended to server systems and thus also supports Virtual Desktop infrastructures. Integration into various existing VS infrastructures is thus also possible for centralized systems.

HCL Notes® 11

GreenShield Mail is the only VS-NfD approved email encryption solution for HCL Notes® on the German market. The current version supports HCL Notes ®11 in addition to the aging Notes 8 and 9 client. Last but not least, the solution’s multi-client capability is unique: it supports both Microsoft Outlook and HCL Notes on the same device. Thus, only GreenShield Mail enables a smooth migration from Notes to Outlook.

More information: www.cryptovision.com/greenshield

Three Facts about e-mail and file encryption

by Frederik Kirchhoff | Oct 29, 2019 | Crypto Politics|E-Mail-Sicherheit, General

Did you know that …

1) … only 13.5% of the Germans use end-to-end e-mail encryption? Three-quarters of the Germans consider it important to encrypt their e-mails though. As reasons for not using encryption almost half of the interviewees stated too much effort and lack of knowledge. (Survey Statista March 2018)

2) … 68% of all German companies have been victims of sabotage, data theft or industrial espionage in the past two years? In this way, the German industry suffered a total loss of 43.4 billion Euros. (Bitkom Survey 2018)

3) … there are several laws demanding e-mail encryption (directly or indirectly)?

These include § 203 of the Criminal Code, the EU Data Protection Basic Regulation, the E-Government Act, and the E-Health Act.

If these laws were implemented bindingly, the vast majority of internals would be safe again and industry and states would have to worry less about espionage and betrayal of secrets.

There have long been numerous practicable solutions for e-mail and file encryption:
All common e-mail clients (including Outlook and Notes) have built-in encryption functions, which are sufficient for many purposes. For particularly high security requirements, GreenShield by cryptovision is a convenient and secure solution. Even if VS-NfD approval is not an absolute necessity for every company, GreenShield – once set up – impresses with unmatched user-friendliness and secure encryption with just one click. Besides encrypting e-mails, GreenShield also signs and encrypts files of all kinds.