Virtru has added Microsoft’s Office 365 and Outlook Desktop services to its list of compatible email platforms for its encryption product.

The company, based in Washington, D.C. and launched in January, is targeting people using major email providers who are interested in stronger privacy controls for more secure communication.

The service is designed to be easy to use for end users who may not have the technical gumption to set up PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), a standard for signing and encrypting content.

The beauty is that Virtru compatible with most major webmail providers, including Google’s Gmail, Yahoo’s Mail, and Microsoft’s Outlook webmail, which replaced Hotmail.

Emails sent using Virtru through those services would look like gibberish, providing a greater degree of privacy. Law enforcement or other entities would not be able to read the content unless they could obtain the key.

Virtru uses a browser extension to encrypt email on a person’s computer or mobile device. The content is decrypted after recipients receive a key, which is distributed by Virtru’s centralized key management server.

Although Virtru handles key management, the company is working on a product that would allow that task to be managed on-site for users, as some administrators would be uncomfortable with another entity managing their keys.

Virtru has said it put aside funds to contest government orders such as a National Security Letter or law enforcement request that are not based on a standard of probable cause,

via Encrypted email service Virtru adds Office 365 compatibility | PCWorld.