Zivver

Municipality of Heerenveen

This algorithm helps e-mail users determine when an e-mail contains sensitive information and should be sent securely.

Last change on 19th of December 2024, at 8:42 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Other algorithms
• Impact assessment: Field not filled in.
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Field not filled in.

Begin date

Field not filled in.

Contact information

[e-mail]

Responsible use

Goal and impact

The purpose of this algorithm is to help ensure that information sent by e-mail is properly secured. In other words: not with too few security measures, but not with too many either. The algorithm contributes to this by alerting e-mail senders to sensitive information and encouraging them to then send this information securely. If they choose to do so, the e-mail is secured with encryption, two-factor authentication for the recipient, revocation option and logging.

This ensures that sensitive information is secured, while insensitive information can be accessed without additional friction for the recipient. The algorithm only impacts the process of sending e-mails and does not affect the substantive legal status of citizens or businesses.

Considerations

The use of this algorithm helps ensure that e-mails are sent with the right level of security. Classification of e-mails by algorithm is more effective than classification based on a glossary compiled by human input or classification by the sender, while at the same time the algorithm does not affect the content of an e-mail.

Human intervention

In principle, the user makes the choice whether or not to send an e-mail securely based on the recommendation by the algorithm. It is also possible to automate the choice of whether or not to send an e-mail securely based on the algorithm. In that case, a user can still choose to explicitly send an e-mail securely by himself.

Risk management

The overall performance of the algorithm is monitored by the vendor. If it turns out that the algorithm is making incorrect classifications more often, this is picked up by the monitoring so that adjustments to the algorithm can be made. For the using organisation, the accuracy of Smart Classification is also visible in an administrator dashboard.

Operations

Data

The algorithm is based on anonymised historical messages combined with whether or not these messages were sent securely. Anonymisation is done in several steps, with only aggregates across many thousands of messages being stored. In addition, personal data is automatically removed from the data. With this, the data is anonymised and the original messages are impossible to extract from the data.

Technical design

When composing a new e-mail, the terms in the message and attachments are used to see how similar it is to previously (securely or normally) sent e-mails. If the e-mail is sufficiently similar to messages normally sent securely, the e-mail is flagged as potentially sensitive. Based on the terminology in the e-mail, it is determined whether it relates to a specific category of sensitive information, such as medical or legal. The moment the e-mail is classified as sensitive and is about a topic that the organisation has set to be sent securely, the user is given a recommendation to send the e-mail securely.

External provider

Zivver