Lower Costs, Less Confusion, Better Protection

The Security Deficit

Cybersecurity presents a key risk to businesses. According to McKinsey, the fastest growing worry for executives is cybersecurity, yet less than half say that their organization is prepared. Don’t confuse this lack of preparedness with cost cutting: big cap firms spend almost $2700 per employee each year on cybersecurity solutions that only mitigate the threat. The myriad of threat vectors, security products, and constant retraining mean that most firms turn to profligacy in a bid to stay protected. 

Today, endpoints are the principle point of entry for cybercriminals, a major challenge given the growth in remote working and uptake of mobile devices in business environments. The pandemic horror stories of hospitals being closed and businesses bankrupted through ransomware are usually the result of an unsuspecting employee opening a phishing email. All it takes is one email to destroy your enterprise. 

Despite the looming threat, most enterprise security tools leave much to be desired. When adopting new security tools, firms are forced to make trade offs, usually between employee/user experience, level of protection, and functionality. The problem is particularly acute with encryption tools. Security experts agree that businesses in every sector, as well as governments and non-profits, should be using using encryption for messaging and sending files. Unfortunately, most encryption tools are hard to use, making it time consuming to retrain staff and to convince customers and vendors to use them. Further, most encryption services are unique platforms, requiring organizations to shift on to yet another platform, complicating workflows and forcing people off traditional email and messaging services. Worst of all, most encrypted messaging platforms aren’t actually secure: their messages can be intercepted before encryption and state-backed groups can easily break their encryption keys.