End-to-End Encryption or Gateway-to-Gateway Encryption?
The protection of personal and business data is becoming increasingly important. Whether private chats or the exchange of sensitive documents, ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information is crucial. End-to-end encryption (E2EE) ensures that data is only accessible to the intended recipients and is protected against attacks and manipulation. However, gateway-to-gateway encryption (G2GE) also offers secure protection. Find out exactly what the differences are and which approach makes sense for you in our blog post.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is the encryption of transmitted data across all transmission stations. E2EE thus describes a transport method in which the plain text is not available unencrypted at any transmission node. The data remains encrypted during transmission and cannot be viewed by third parties such as Internet service providers (ISPs).
End-to-end encryption therefore protects data by ensuring that only the intended recipients can decrypt the data. It uses a combination of asymmetric and symmetric cryptography to ensure the security, integrity and confidentiality of communications. This makes E2EE an indispensable tool for protecting digital privacy.
How does end-to-end encryption work?
E2EE works according to the lock-and-key principle. The sender first converts the information into a ciphertext using a key. Only the recipient has the matching key to decrypt the ciphertext again and thus make it readable. Various cryptographic methods such as symmetric and asymmetric encryption are used.
Various cryptographic algorithms are used for encryption. For asymmetric encryption, these are e.g. RSA or ECC, for symmetric encryption e.g. AES for data encryption. Methods such as Diffie-Hellman or Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) are used for the secure generation of symmetric keys.
In any case, a secure key exchange is crucial, as this is the only way to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.
Where is end-to-end encryption used?
Many messaging apps offer E2EE, such as WhatsApp, Signal and Threema. The exchange of messages is protected by E2EE, but not necessarily the transmission of backups. For some messengers, this option must be switched on manually.
Some cloud services offer E2EE for the transfer of files and other communication.
Emails: Technologies such as PGP or S/MIME enable E2EE for the transmission of emails. Good email security software supports at least one of the two options, but preferably both. Users have to create and manage the key pairs, which can be technically challenging for non-experts. However, the right email security software takes care of this so that there is no difference for users compared to sending or receiving unencrypted emails.
Why end-to-end encryption?
End-to-end encryption is of great importance as it ensures the confidentiality, security and integrity of electronic communication. In an increasingly digital world, where vast amounts of private and business data are transmitted over the Internet, E2EE is an indispensable means of ensuring the privacy and security of users.
End-to-end encryption and email security
The use of E2EE in email communication is problematic: no matter how your side of the communication channel is set up, the side of your communication partner cannot be controlled. Effective email security solutions are therefore based on gateway-to-gateway encryption. In the context of email security, this has a decisive advantage over end-to-end encryption: only with G2GE is it possible to thoroughly analyse emails and detect and ward off malware.
Gateway-to-gateway encryption and NoSpamProxy
With NoSpamProxy, you use gateway-to-gateway encryption completely automatically and also have numerous configuration options. Your communication remains encrypted and securely protected right up to the administrator’s sphere of influence. The required keys are managed centrally.
You decide whether you want to use S/MIME or PGP for encryption. You also have the option of specifying the S/MIME algorithm used if required, for example AES-128 for encryption and SHA-256 for the signature. Of course, you can also simply use the algorithms reported by the partner. You can make these settings at partner domain level or at user entry level for individual domains.
Protection against malware with gateway-to-gateway encryption
Because NoSpamProxy checks every single email, NoSpamProxy offers effective protection against malware and spam and ensures that you receive malware-free attachments. This means you can safely ward off cyberattacks and fulfil all legal requirements and the GDPR at the same time. NoSpamProxy is also BSI-certified.
Conclusion
Which approach is better for you depends on the use case. End-to-end encryption makes sense in the context of personal communication, for example with messenger services. For email communication, we recommend gateway-to-gateway encryption, as this is the only way to ensure secure protection against malware and spam.
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