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Monday, 08 June 2009

Why use Secure Mail?

I predict that some day we'll notice that very few consultants encrypt their email. This will be because of the secure email products that they were forced to use when they worked at larger companies. My experience with ice cream leads me to believe this.

When I was a kid, we would frequently get ice cream on the way home from school. I always wanted to get a clown cone, a scoop of ice cream in a sugar cone that's decorated with candy to look like a clown. Clown cones don't actually taste that good because they've usually been sitting out for quite a while before you buy them, but they certainly look good, and that's why I always wanted one.

My parents, however had different ideas. They knew that clown cones don't actually taste very good, and they never let me get one. After years of being cruelly denied clown cones, now I'm the dad, and nobody (except my wife of course) can tell me that I can't get one. I do this every time I take my kids out for ice cream, cheerfully ignoring the fact that the clown cones really don't taste that good as I do it.

Now consider the people who have to use email encryption on the job. Many of these people aren't lucky enough to be using Voltage's SecureMail, which is extremely easy to use. Some of them even use PKI and S/MIME to protect their email. They probably hate every minute of this, but are forced to use S/MIME anyway.

Some of these people are going to become consultants one day. They'll be their own boss and won’t have a security department to force them to use S/MIME. I expect that many of these people will rebel against their terrible experiences with S/MIME by intentionally avoiding using encrypted email as much as they can, ignoring that fact that they really should be protecting sensitive information.

What's the solution to this? Use Voltage's SecureMail, of course.

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Comments

Tory Burch Shoes

It's great to hear from you and see what you've been up to. In your blog I feel your enthusiasm for life. thank you.

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