Royal London latest major provider to adopt Unipass Mailock encrypted email

Royal London has adopted Unipass Mailock, the industry’s secure email communication system provided by Origo and cyber security specialist Beyond Encryption and will use it to help secure communications data and protect against cybercrime

Will Pritchett, Chief Technology Officer, Royal London said: “The safety and security of our clients’ data is paramount. Given the rise of increasingly sophisticated Cybercrime techniques, we need to continuously respond to new challenges. Unipass Mailock will reinforce our existing security measures by helping to secure our communications and to ensure that the person opening the email is authorised to do so, thereby also helping to protect against fraud. It’s simple and intuitive, with advisers able to open and reply to any Unipass Mailock email sent to them free of charge.”

Cybercrime has been rising rapidly up the priority list for financial services firms. David Fairs, Director of Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice at The Pensions Regulator made clear the seriousness of the situation when he told pensions providers and administrators: “It’s not a case of if you will be attacked, it’s a case of when.”1

Unsecured email is vulnerable to hacking and in its recent Cybercrime Guidance2 the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) said: “Cybercrime has increased in sophistication and is mostly undertaken by rapidly growing, highly profitable criminal ‘businesses’.” Email security is highlighted in the Guide, with email phishing described as “the most successful and dangerous” of cybercrimes, citing that research has found 91% of all cyber-attacks start with a phishing email whilst recent ICO statistics cite misdirected email above phishing in the context of data incidents.

Anthony Rafferty, CEO, Origo, said: “We are delighted that Royal London has adopted Unipass Mailock to help secure its data and communications and help prevent fraud.

“More and more companies are realising the very real risk to their business as criminals actively use developing technology to target unsecured emails and access sensitive and valuable information.

“Often it is the simplest means and the weakest link which is targeted. Email remains a primary way for criminals to obtain the information they need and to infiltrate companies’ systems.

“Cybercriminals are becoming ever more resourceful and for companies to know they have locked down their email communications through using the highest standard of encryption, and identity verification in an auditable process, can be a significant step in helping to protect their business against cybercrime.”

Aegon became the first of the major financial services providers in the UK to deploy Unipass Mailock3 in July 2020.

Unipass Mailock uses military-grade encryption and unique identity authentication capabilities which can be quickly adopted into providers’ and advisers’ systems.

Enabling secure and efficient communication of sensitive personal, financial, medical or policy information for advisers and their clients is paramount whilst also addressing ICO concerns to ensure that only the intended recipient can read and reply to the message.

Whether desktop or mobile, from an audit perspective, the system confirms when an identity verified client has opened the email and accessed attachments to help meet compliance requirements such as SM&CR, Mi-Fid and GDPR, consequentially reducing business risk.

Paul Holland, CEO and founder of Beyond Encryption says: “We’re delighted that the Unipass Mailock eco system and family is growing so rapidly to help address cybercrime – it’s a topic that affects us all with reputational and financial damage on the cards in the event of a breach.

“Unipass Mailock is a huge deterrent to the cybercriminal world, so important given the escalating risks in these remote working times. Providers, platforms, advisers and their clients can simply and effectively protect their confidential and sensitive communications to significantly reduce risk to their businesses and customers.”

1 13 June 2019 – Hymans Robertson event

2 PASA - Cybercrime Guidance, November 2020

3 Aegon reinforces email security with launch of Unipass Mailock

Find out more about Unipass Mailock