Echoworx Partners with DigiCert to Simplify Trusted Email Communications

Enabling real-time encryption and digital signing of messages, Echoworx and DigiCert have partnered to automate secure email certificate management at scale.

In a significant move toward modernizing certificate encryption, Echoworx, a leading global provider of secure email solutions, has announced a partnership with DigiCert, a leading provider of digital trust, to enhance its email encryption platform. By integrating DigiCert’s services, Echoworx will automate the use of S/MIME credentials, streamlining email encryption and signing to be more efficient and user-friendly. This collaboration addresses the critical challenges global enterprises face when managing digital certificates on a large scale to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of email.

As digital transformation progresses rapidly, securing enterprise access and communication, is more important than ever. Companies need to protect their communications across sectors using reliable digital certificates. This can be challenging due to the large volume, often in the tens of thousands within a single organization. A certificate’s validity begins once it’s issued. Managing these large numbers of short-lived certificates manually is impractical and prone to errors, but many companies still do.

Echoworx’s cloud-based encrypted email service now integrated with DigiCert’s API, allows for instant credential generation. This ensures every email is signed by the sender, simplifying onboarding and reducing errors.

Key Benefits of the Integration Include:

• Automated Credential Generation: Echoworx’s solution seamlessly integrates with DigiCert to automate the issuance of trusted S/MIME certificates, significantly reducing IT workload.
• Error Reduction: For organizations with high employee turnover relying on S/MIME for email security, this automation eliminates manual steps and potential human error associated with employee on- and off-boarding.
• Secure Communication: All outbound encrypted emails are signed using publicly trusted S/MIME credentials from the sender’s corporate email address, ensuring secure and reliable communication. The email authenticity provided by S/MIME helps protect against spoofed email attacks like business email compromise.

“Secure communications are our primary focus, and achieving this requires freedom of choice to provide companies the necessary flexibility. A static and complicated security solution isn’t a solution at all,” said Robert Frank, Area Vice President DACH & Eastern Europe, DigiCert. “Integrating Echoworx with DigiCert for lifecycle management of S/MIME certificates offers the convenience, speed, and security that companies need, significantly reducing resources needed for security management.”

“Echoworx recognized early on that it was necessary to get our systems ready for when the migration to cloud and automation of these on-premises systems would become a necessity. Recognizing the importance of S/MIME for many of our clients, we pledged to modernize certificate management through integrated solutions,” said Steve Davis, Director of Products at Echoworx. “It’s encouraging to see businesses prioritizing modernization by demanding secure messaging solutions that are easy to set up, compatible with any email system, user-friendly, and scalable. By integrating DigiCert’s leading digital trust infrastructure into Echoworx’s encrypted cloud service, we offer customers a powerful combination of options and flexibility required to secure business communications.”

This integration builds on a successful deployment last year with a major European bank. The bank wanted to switch its provider while keeping automated S/MIME credentials for its employees, ensuring no administrator intervention in the process, highlighting the adaptability and reliability of Echoworx’s solutions.

DigiCert’s “2024 State of Digital Trust Report” highlights a notable difference in how companies handle their digital certificates. About half (52%) of the companies surveyed depend on their IT departments for certificate management. However, a significant portion (37%) manage their certificates outside of IT, and worryingly, one in nine (11%) have no formal management system at all. As threats grow, the divide between organizations leading in digital trust and those falling behind becomes clearer. By simplifying the process and minimizing vulnerabilities, businesses can ensure strong protection and secure communication.

With this integration, Echoworx and DigiCert are set to modernize PKI-based encryption. They aim to provide enterprises with a strong, scalable, and seamless solution to secure their communications and improve their security.