iOS Native Email Encryption

[jwpjr]

Hello All,

New to the forums, but I have been known to troll this site...

Anyhow, my organization is looking at bringing in the iPhone as an alternative device to the Blackberry, which is what we primarily use. We do have roughly a dozen iPhones that we have been using for testing, mainly to configure company policies and push them to the iPhone devices(MobileIron) and test email functionallity and such.

The only holdup is that (apparently) there isn't native iPhone encryption, and you must use a third party app to send/receive encrypted emails.

Now, I am relatively new to my position, so I don't like to go to my superiors without some ammunition. But I have read several articles online that suggest that the iPhone does indeed have native email encryption.

Am I missing something here? I'm starting to think that the people I work for don't research these kinds of things? Although, maybe there is an issue with encrypted email on a large scale?

Any help with this answer is appreciated!!!

 

[Phil A.]

Have a look here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4979?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US - it explains iOS support for encrypted email

 

[b52junebug]

While iOS only offers a certain level of encryption for each different service on the devices, you can use Enterprise Mobility Management to provide a higher level of encryption.

Depending on your business needs, you should take a look at all of the providers.

PM me if you would like some help.

 

[scaredpoet]

What exactly is your organization talking about when it mentions "encrypted e-mail?" Are we talking things like TLS encryption, of Exchange ActiveSync support? If so, iOS does in fact support these.

It also supports S/MIME email authentication.

Additionally, current iOS devices all have a 256-bit AES encrypted filesystem, and used in conjunction with a non-simple passcode can be pretty secure.

There's a whole write-up of the security features in iOS here:

http://images.apple.com/ipad/business/docs/iOS_Security_May12.pdf

In a nutshell, it's very easy to securely encrypted e-mail transport from iOS devices. The idea that only Blackberry devices are secure is an outmoded idea, and no longer correct. Though Blackberry is more than happy to let their old users keep on believing it, because right now it's all they have.

 

[detlefs]

The reply by scaredpoet sounds like email encryption in iOS is working. That is not the case. At least that is not my experience.

To see a detailed description of my experience with iOS8 email encryption click here.