E-government unit seeking applications for SEE

By ADAM GIFFORD

The State Services Commission's E-government unit is calling for expressions of interest from software vendors which want to be accredited for version two of the Secure Electronic Environment (SEE) Mail project.

Unit member Mike Pearson said SEE Mail v2, which should be completed within the next couple of weeks, sets requirements for email screening and encryption software used by government agencies and companies doing business with the government.

"We test whether vendors can configure their products to meet our business requirements. If they pass, we can say to the agencies the product is suitable for use," Mr Pearson said.

Three products were accredited for stage one of SEE Mail, which was aimed at the core government departments. When CSC, which was offering the Tumbleweed product, pulled out the market was left to Scientific Software and Solutions selling Baltimore Secret Sweeper, and Baycorp ID Services

which sells Mail Marshall.

Mr Pearson said those companies were allowed a duopoly in recognition of their contribution getting the system running, but it was made clear from the start the market would be opened out to other vendors once initial development was completed. So far 13 departments have SEE Mail.

"There are 40 core central agencies and 230 odd external agencies, so there is a large market out there," he said.

"Version two is for not just the core departments and agencies. Banks, law firms and anyone who does business with government on a corporate level can be included in the secure email system," he said.

SEE Mail puts a secure wrapper around mail. When the receiving server recognises it comes from a known domain, it will unwrap the message and pass it on.

If it does not recognise the sender, it will insert a warning the mail is unverified. It will also warn if mail has been tampered with.

"SEE Mail is about defining expected behaviour when sending email between known places."

Mr Pearson said Version 2 should fix many of the problems identified during the first year, such as what should happen when people forget to renew a public key certificates.

"If the mail is in transit and a certificate is required, the system will reject it. What we want is for the message to get through, but with a warning it is unverified."He said of all the countries which have trialled gateway-to-gateway systems, New Zealand seems to be the only one to have successfully put one into operation.

SEE

Security in Government Departments