Secure the email interface with security strings

To increase the security of your email interface, you can integrate security strings in your email header. This allows you to counteract misuse - similar to 2-factor authentication.

eCall clients can enter security strings for the email interface for each activated format: SMS, Fax, Threema and Voice. The settings can be found in the eCall Portal navigation under Account settings ► E-mail access ► Access Settings ► Security options.

Here you will find the access settings for the SMS format:

General functioning of security strings

To ensure a high level of security when sending e-mails, we recommend including a security feature (security string) in all e-mails. Basically, this is a character string which must appear somewhere in the e-mail header. The email header contains all data that is not contained in the text of an email. This can be IP addresses, To field, CC field, subject, name of the email server, date sent, etc.

The same security feature (security string / character string) must be entered both in the header of the e-mail and in the eCall portal under "E-mail access" in "Access settings" in the "Security string" field under "Security options"!

What can I do to increase the security time?

One possibility is to use the IP address of the e-mail server sending the e-mail as the security string. This way, only those e-mails are processed which have this server as their origin. If other characteristics from the e-mail header are known (e.g. the name of the e-mail server, a special header parameter which always has the same value), these can also be used.

If the IP address etc. is not known, the e-mail can be secured with a "security keyword". The security keyword, like the security string, must be entered both in the header of the e-mail and in the eCall portal under "Access settings" > "Security options" in the "Security string" field. Entering the security keyword in the header is done with an additional e-mail address, which is inserted in the CC field and contains the security keyword:

Example: If the string "hZavjjx5JT1Y2ff" is used as the security keyword, the additional security e-mail address is hZavjjx5JT1Y2ff@check.ecall.ch. The To field contains the recipient's address as usual.









Please make sure that the character string does not contain any special characters that are not permitted in an e-mail address (all characters above the ASCII code 127, including umlauts, are generally prohibited. There must not be a full stop at the beginning or end of the string).

Multiple security features

If several security features are possible (e.g. that the e-mail server has changing IP addresses), they can be specified separated by semicolons. E.g.: 22.22.22;33.33.33 Both IP addresses are therefore accepted.

Wildcards (Visual Basic Wildcards) | IP-Ranges

In addition, eCall offers the possibility of wildcards (VB Wildcards). For example, IP ranges can be specified:

- 192.168.4.5[1-5] includes these IPs 192.168.4.51, 192.168.4.52, 192.168.4.53, 192.168.4.54, 192.168.4.55.
- 192.168.4.5[1,3,5,9] includes the following IPs 192.168.4.51, 192.168.4.53, 192.168.4.55, 192.168.4.59.

Asterisk "*"

The asterisk (i.e. "*") as any number of characters is also supported:

- Customer*44.44.44.44 means that any text may be placed between the word "Customer" and the IP address.

Updated on: 02/11/2021