First, I want to thank the kind folks at Essential Security for the opportunity to review their interesting software. Simply put, Taceo (Latin for “I am silent”) makes your email attachments secure. This keeps would be snoopers from viewing those attachments. But it also helps with one of the most troublesome issues about email - control after sending. Taceo allows you to control viewing, editing, printing, and forwarding. That’s some nice peace of mind. And if you’re HIPAA conscious or are doing Sarbanes Oxley compliance, then you need something like this - period. Ok, let’s dive into Taceo.
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Installation of the software was quick and painless. If you’ve installed anything, this will be easy for you. Once you have done that you will notice a new outlook plugin. This allows you to apply Taceo encryption to any attachment you want. One of the nice features of this software is that you can turn it on and off. So, want to send some unencrypted files to some family member? No problem. If you then want to send a financial document to a client, turn it on and you’re set.
Sending files via Taceo security is a cinch. You simply attach the files, make sure security is enabled, and hit send. The software wraps the file via the ESS printer and it’s off. Sure, that’s great for you, but what about the person on the other end of email? Well, the email will state that they are receiving a file that is encrypted via Taceo. It will also direct them to get the free viewer. I was confused about the viewer. It directs you to a page to download the Taceo software. This is a trial that lasts only 30 days. I emailed someone at the company to get to the bottom of this riddle. It seems that once the trial expires the viewer is the only component left available. That was great news. I was worried that users were forced into buying the entire package. But that’s not the case. What’s really neat about Taceo is how much control it gives the sender. You can restrict files from being forwarded, viewed, printed, and edited. You can also give time limits on the file. I really like that idea.
—-Here are some screenshots—-
The other nice feature of Taceo is that it can encrypt your local files. This could come in real handy if your laptop is stolen. What would happen if your computer, which contained sensitive financial information, fell into the hands of malicious individuals. Taceo gives you ability to go online and lock those files. The next time your laptop pings Essential Security’s servers those files will be locked. Again, it gives you control once those files are out of reach.
Taceo provides a level of control over files that is much needed. They are filling a nice niche to provide security for files that contain sensitive information on financials, health information, etc. I liked the easy install and how easy it was to send protected files. I also liked the local file protection. Sometimes the software was a little unintuitive, but overall, it did fine. I was afraid that users who were sent files had to end up buying the entire Taceo package, but that’s not the case. For $59 a year, Taceo is a compelling software package to protect sensitive documents. As such, I am giving it a solid 4 stars.
Update: I have a full year of Taceo to give away to someone. The lucky winner will be drawn from our mailing list on November 1st. Good luck!
[tags]encrypt email documents, protect documents, HIPAA, Sarbanes Oxley compliance, email protection[/tags]
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While I the ability to control email attachments sounds nice, I cannot see the local encryption being useful if it keeps the files in an unlocked state and only locks them after you instruct Essential Security’s server to lock the files and your stolen laptop checks in (which seems to be the way it works from your description, but I could be wrong). For protecting sensitive files, I prefer to use TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org). It is open-source, secure and easy to use (especially on Windows).
Hello John,
You are mostly correct in your description of our local encryption. However, the files Taceo creates are always ‘locked’ in the sense that they cannot be viewed if copied to another computer (unauthorized by the files’ creator). They are ‘unlocked’ and viewable as an .ECC file if physical access to the computer is available until the computer is deauthorized using our feature as described.
And just as a sidenote: The remote laptop security feature is an added bonus to a product where the primary focus is controlling the final destination and use of email/attachments.
Michael Grimm
Product Manager
ESS
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