'Encrypt your mails' Echelon warning slammed

The European Parliament has come under fire over its suggestions that all emails should be encrypted because of Echelon - the Anglo-US listening system - as experts fear such measures will increase the risk of exposure to viruses.

An interim EU report published yesterday was the first official admission that Echelon exists. As a result the committee set up to look into the issue warned businesses and individuals that their privacy was at risk if they did not use encrypted emails.

But experts in the security industry warn that regularly encrypting emails makes virus detection virtually impossible.

Graham Cluley, senior technical consultant at anti-virus company Sophos, said encrypted emails can only be inspected at the desktop, leaving the PC vulnerable to attacks.

"Encrypted email could potentially spread viruses as the users have no idea what the message actually contains. Forwarding the infected message without scanning it at the desktop first can spread malicious code," he said.

"I would still use encryption, but to get my aunt Edna to encrypt her email to me is completely unnecessary," he added.

Jack Clark, product manager at Network Associates, said organisations are at risk if they fail to scan incoming traffic at the desktop: "Any organisation relying on gateway protection only is compromising their security by sending and receiving encrypted documents," he said.

But Jolyon Jago, CEO of encryption specialist DespatchBox, said companies should evaluate the seriousness of possible threats. "It is a case of two evils: virus scanning is important too, but eavesdropping is a higher risk to companies if confidential information is leaked to outsiders," he said.

The Echelon system was set up by Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, UK and US intelligence services.