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17th September 2002
Secure Email Solution for SMEs

Two Melbourne companies have teamed up to release a low-cost, encrypted e-mail solution for small-to-medium enterprises.

DCNUT, Australia's largest remote managed server company, has signed an agreement to distribute the Unicrypt Secure E-mail Server with its DCMAIL Server product.

Despite growing concerns about e-mail security, a number of factors have prevented the widespread use of encryption. Incompatible standards, high prices and difficult user interfaces have made it unpopular.

The Unicrypt Secure E-mail Server overcomes these problems.

According to DCNUT managing director Adam Crow, "Customers are demanding more secure communications, and existing products such as Microsoft Exchange are not yet capable of handling these requirements in such a transparent manner.

``The combination of our DCSERVER technology and the Unicrypt software has made for a powerful product capable of meeting today's needs. Yet thanks to Linux, such a technology is priced considerably lower than Exchange solutions''.

The Unicrypt software is a drop-in replacement for the typical e-mail services provided by servers such as Exchange and Sendmail. Users can continue to use their existing e-mail interfaces without any retraining. However, the server provides a number of unique security features behind the scenes.

• All e-mail sent out through the server is digitally signed. This guarantees that the message will not be tampered with during transit. The attached digital certificate also allows the recipient to encrypt their response.
• When a recipient is equipped to handle encrypted e-mail, by registering either a PGP or S/MIME certificate, the server will encrypt all messages sent to them.
• All incoming e-mail is encrypted before being stored on disk, guaranteeing that messages can only be read by the intended recipient. Even if the machine is hacked into, backup tapes are stolen, or co-workers abuse their privileges, the messages will remain confidential.
• The server provides SSL versions of the POP, IMAP, and SMTP protocols, allowing e-mail to be submitted and retrieved without risk of interception.
• By authenticating users based on their POP and IMAP connections, the server allows users to submit e-mail from remote locations while preventing spammers from abusing the system. Existing solutions require users to submit from fixed known locations, such as a local area network or dial-up lines.
• All e-mail is "de-fanged" to help prevent the automatic execution of viruses. The server can also integrate with commercial anti-virus systems for more comprehensive scanning.

The Unicrypt server is also unique because it is able to handle both of the common e-mail encryption standards, PGP and S/MIME. Until now these have been mutually incompatible, which has greatly impeded the uptake of encrypted e-mail.

``When it comes to e-mail security, the small end of the market is largely ignored. By providing a product that is sufficiently low cost and easy to use we hope to greatly increase the use of encrypted and digitally-signed e-mail,'' said Unicrypt managing director Matthew Kwan.

``We decided to launch the Unicrypt server through DCNUT because of their strong commitment to Linux in the small-to-medium enterprise market, with over 300 of their servers currently in use.

A DCMAIL Server retails for $3,700 plus $995 per annum, which includes fully configured hardware, Unicrypt software, installation, remote monitoring, and on-going upgrades.

``On the rare occasions when a message is encrypted, it stands out like a beacon to any potential eavesdroppers, and indicates that the message contains sensitive information'' said Mr Kwan. ``The only safe strategy is to encrypt all traffic.''

The Unicrypt server also provides compliance with recently-enacted privacy laws by making it impossible to spy on a user's e-mail. To handle departing employees and forgotten passwords, a system administrator can use a master key to change an account's password, but this cannot be done covertly because the user will realise that their password has been changed.

DCNUT Pty Ltd is Australia's largest Remote managed Server Company with over 300 DCSERVERS across Australia, NZ, Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the UK. The company is privately held and headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

For more information

Media Contact: Tanya Versace, Office Manager
+61 3 9807 8600, media@dcnut.com or visit the web site at www.dcnut.com