Encrypted Mass Email

Tesla

Tesla

Tesla

Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2003
Posts
17,597
Location
Bristol, UK
Hi all,

A client of mine is looking for a solution to the following:

A means of sending email to given mailing lists. Each recipient cannot see the others (BCC).

Emails are to be secure/encrypted.

A simple means for the recipient to reply yes or no.

Above all this must be minimal of fuss, the recipients have no spare time and do not want multiple-clicks or lengthy processes.

If you are able to advise on anything at all that would be much appreciated.
 
Currently 30-40 recipients. Wouldn't imagine it'd likely ever be over 150-200.

Thanks for your time.
 
The "minimal fuss" approach would be to use one symmetric encryption key for the system as a whole. And give it to each receipt & the guy that sends to the list. Not really advised though.

The more sensible approach security wise would be to use public/private keys, and give each receipt a public/private key-pair and the public key of the list sender. This way there is less key management hassle and everything works nicely. You just have the initial one-time setup job of creating & distributing keys and configuring the email client.

PGP are pretty much the best guys to look at for email encryption.

Have a read though their options: http://www.pgp.com/products/email_protection/index.html

If it's as simple as a yes/no reply and reading a list message, it might be worth considering a web based system instead of email. A login/password for each user and then just press a yes/no button in response. Just an idea, and it would be easier to work with than email.
 
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tntcoder said:
If it's as simple as a yes/no reply and reading a list message, it might be worth considering a web based system instead of email. A login/password for each user and then just press a yes/no button in response. Just an idea, and it would be easier to work with than email.
Click to expand...
This is the solution I proposed but it's just too many clicks for the intended recipients. They need a one click no typing solution.
 
Are the recipients internal or external? You're going to struggle to get something so transparent, especially with external people.

By it's nature if you encrypt it something has to decrypt it at the other end which will involve something.

As said above, something certificate based will probably be best and cause least amount of 'clicks'.

Maybe do something with S/MIME? Would require an intial config of setting up the certificates, but then it should be pretty hassle free. I think, never used it myself :)
 
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