Authentic and audit-proof e-mail communication via blockchain: totemo starts totemomail Verified in January 2021. E-mail is still the universal means of communication, especially in business life, although its advantages are offset by disadvantages such as phishing risks or the lack of audit security.
With totemomail Verified, totemo, provider of secure electronic communication in the business environment, presents a solution that solves these challenges with the help of distributed ledger technology (DLT). The technology was developed in cooperation with Vereign, in the context of which Dario Perfettibile, CEO of totemo, was elected to the board of directors of the crypto start-up.
Authenticity: Is the sender who they claim to be?
A central challenge in e-mail communication is to authenticate the sender of a message. This is important to prevent phishing or business email compromise attacks such as the infamous “CEO Fraud”. Unlike existing anti-phishing solutions, totemomail Verified starts with the sender of the e-mail: Companies that want to give the recipients of their e-mails the opportunity to verify the authenticity of the received message. In this way, the sender prevents the recipient - including customers and partners - from falling victim to attempts at counterfeiting, for which his brand is misused. This promotes the reputation of the emails sent and of your own brand. In addition, companies benefit from a higher probability that the e-mails will be read and answered.
How does this work? Every email message sent with totemomail Verified contains an individual QR code that the recipient can scan or click on with their mobile phone. You will then be taken to the sender's website, where the metadata of the email can be seen. In this way, recipients can verify that the e-mail is authentic and really comes from the specified sender.
Audit-proof thanks to blockchain technology
Another challenge is the unequivocal proof that the e-mail communication really took place. The lack of verifiability has so far led to the fact that the fax machine persisted in many companies - despite all digitization initiatives. Companies often use registered mail as well. An alternative that is neither digital nor inexpensive.
The new totemomail Verified solution makes e-mail communication reliable and traceable using distributed ledger technology. The sending and receiving of e-mails is stored as an irrefutable transaction in a blockchain - protected against change and deletion and therefore audit-proof. To do this, the solution saves encrypted e-mail metadata, status and hashes of e-mails in a key-value database, bundled in chronologically structured blocks. The integrity of the data stored in the blocks is secured using the cryptographic process on which the blockchain technology is based. This security is then written into a public blockchain and, as a result, anchored in a forgery-proof manner and verifiable for third parties. In this way, the tried and tested e-mail becomes fit for the future and promotes digitization initiatives, because there is no media break through fax machines or registered letters.
More on this at totemo.com
About totemo
The Swiss software manufacturer totemo ag offers solutions for the secure exchange of business information. totemo protects e-mail communication and data transfer through encryption and attaches particular importance to optimal user-friendliness - of course also on mobile devices.
The patented and FIPS 140-2 validated totemo security platform enables quick and easy integration into any existing IT infrastructure.
Worldwide, more than 3.5 million users in 1 companies and organizations across all industries trust totemo's security solutions, including well-known large corporations. The company, founded in 500, is headquartered at Zurich Airport and has a location in Sofia, Bulgaria.