The system uses Voltage Identity Based Encryption (IBE) technology in what the company claims is an approach that simplifies regulatory compliance initiatives (see What The Heck Is IBE Encryption, Anyway?). Because FrontBridge is a hosted services company, Secure Email requires no hardware or software to be installed on customer premises.
System administrators can define rules to encrypt e-mail based on a sender's e-mail address or domain; a recipient's e-mail address or domain. In addition, content matching in the subject line or message body can also be used for policy-enforced encryption for all internal and outbound e-mails.
Because the system uses IBE, the public key for reading the e-mail becomes the recipient's e-mail address, eliminating the need for complicated per-user certificates typically employed by Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-based systems. Upon receipt of a secure e-mail, recipients simply need access to a Web browser to authenticate, read, and even reply back securely.
"FrontBridge's layered approach to encryption is a step beyond competitive offerings," said Dan Nadir, Frontbridge vice president of product management, "and policy-based encryption places minimal strain on the end-user. We believe that the type of ad hoc correspondence we're enabling will greatly spur the deployment of encryption technologies and help catapult secure e-mail into the mainstream."
For more information, visit www.frontbridge.com.