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secunet welcomes De-Mail law

[Essen, October 13, 2010] secunet welcomes and supports the De-Mail law passed today by the German federal government. The law provides the legal framework for reliable De-Mail services on the Internet, making a decisive contribution to increased security on the Internet.

"De-Mail ensures confidentiality and authenticity in electronic data traffic," said secunet CEO, Dr. Rainer Baumgart, commenting on today's cabinet decision. "Communication partners can be unambiguously identified with De-Mail and the sending and receiving of e-mails is binding and can be verified. This means that in the future e-mails can be used for processes that previously seemed unsuitable for this medium."

From 2011, De-Mail will make it much easier to exchange data and documents such as invoices, bank statements or administrative notifications securely over the Internet. The transfer is always encrypted to ensure that the contents cannot be read or changed. To ensure secure identification, individuals or legal entities must identify themselves when they open a user account, by presenting an ID card, for example. Secure proof that e-mails have been sent and received offers further advantages over conventional e-mail.

In close cooperation with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), secunet designed the basic De-Mail concept and individual services, and continued further development through to the technical directive, on which the certification and accreditation procedure for service providers will be based.