The NHS IT Security Specialists
Email Encryption
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Email Encryption for the NHS
WatchGuard XCS appliances provide content security for email and web applications and enable instant-on security for patient identifiable, confidential and regulated data.
When investigating the various methods of protection for data-in-transit, it is vital to evaluate the entire landscape of content that the NHS makes use of today. Today’s users may have instant access to the Web and email which means that content can escape, including sending data via pop mail systems such as Hotmail®, wikis, blogs, and the sending of messages and files via email to unlimited, unknown and mostly unrestricted recipients. So, understanding the overall risks of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and seeking to address these by utilising a consolidated platform like the XCS from WatchGuard may be the best strategic solution.
The WatchGuard XCS solution provides an easy to use, secured Envelope for NHS Trusts that do not want the burdens and costs associated with traditional encryption deployments and administration. Email message security, however requires privacy and compliance features including reliable read receipts, secure replying and forwarding, message expiration, customised branding of the envelope by your Trust, and message recalling.
The encrypted envelope does not use clients or certificates so it does not require a pre-exchange of credentials. It is agnostic to the email and operating system environment and allows the secured message to be sent to any email recipient at any time. The encrypted envelope can be securely delivered to mobile devices like the BlackBerry, and it encrypts the entire payload, including attachments.
Email encryption is valuable for addressing the following:
- Patient Identifiable Data
- Compliance regulations including DOH Data Handling Review, The Information Commissioners Office, UK Data Protection Act and the EU Data Protection Directive
- Intellectual property including financial statements, human resources and legal agreements and correspondence
- Privacy data including: names, addresses, government ID numbers, credit card numbers, account numbers, pass codes, health and human services
Security and administration risks are gaps that can be remedied with policies that deal with a one to many environment such as, disparate scanning of email and Web mediums, and reporting DLP activities and violations across multiple protocols and technical silos. By utilising the WatchGuard XCS appliance, DLP is provided for both email and Web protocols in a single administrative access point for creating, managing and enforcing policies for protecting your organisation from leakage. The WatchGuard XCS appliance is not only transparent from end-users as a gateway appliance; it provides effective and efficient security.
The WatchGuard XCS appliance offers network perimeter protection by providing the following areas of protection:
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WatchGuard ReputationAuthority "in-the-cloud," real-time monitoring service to block over 98% of unwanted traffic and threats with 99.9% accuracy
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Advanced Spam and Malware Prevention Engines for URL filtering on HTTP and HTTPS
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Zero-Hour Threat Outbreak Response for the fastest response to new threats
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Always-On Email Security so you never lose a message
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Set-It-And-Forget-It Administration with the ability to apply a single policy to control traffic
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Granular Reporting for visibility into security gaps and customisable reporting for audit requirements