OutlookA healthcare worker wants to send a discharge letter to a patient. She opens Outlook, starts typing, and pastes the name, national ID number, and diagnosis details from the patient file. She selects Zivver encryption and clicks Send. The email is secured.
Three streets away, an HR officer sends an appraisal email to a colleague. At the bottom is accidentally the wrong name, a salary that belongs to someone else, and a passage about a conflict with another team member. The email was not marked for encryption. It is already gone.
Both employees use professional email. Both think their workflow is secure. But the risk was at a different moment: not in the encryption, but in what was in the email.
Two tools, two moments
Zivver and BeeSensible are sometimes mentioned together as solutions for secure email. But they work fundamentally differently.
Zivver is a platform for secure email. It encrypts messages, offers two-factor authentication for recipients, scans attachments for sensitive content, and makes it possible to recall sent emails. Zivver protects the email after you click Send.
BeeSensible is a browser extension that highlights sensitive data while you type. It shows names, account numbers, national ID numbers, medical terms, and other categories in the draft window, so you can remove, replace, or mask them before you send. BeeSensible protects the moment before sending.
This distinction is crucial for choosing the right approach.
| Aspect | Zivver | BeeSensible |
|---|---|---|
| Type of tool | Email security platform | Browser extension |
| Moment of action | After sending (encryption, recall) | Before sending (highlighting, awareness) |
| Integration | Outlook plugin, Gmail, web portal | Chrome and Edge extension, works in all web applications |
| What it solves | Unauthorised access to sent emails | Unintentional sending of sensitive data |
| Recipient experience | Secure link, verification, portal | No difference, normal email |
| Main risk it addresses | Interception and unauthorised access | Human sending errors |
What Zivver does
Zivver, founded in Amsterdam in 2015, has grown into one of the most widely used solutions for secure email in Dutch healthcare, government, and legal sectors. More than 10,000 organisations use Zivver.
Core features
Encryption: Zivver encrypts emails with AES-256 and offers keyless encryption. Recipients do not need to create a Zivver account: they receive a secure link and verify their identity via a one-time code, password, or email verification.
Misdirected email prevention: Zivver scans emails before sending and warns about potential wrong recipients, misuse of CC/BCC, and sensitive content in attachments. This uses machine learning and AI.
Recall: Sent emails can be recalled, even after the recipient has received them. There is no time limit and the recipient does not need to confirm.
Large files: Zivver supports secure file transfer up to 5TB.
Inbound threat protection: Zivver offers protection against incoming threats such as phishing and malware.
Certifications
Zivver has multiple certifications: SOC2 type 2, ISO 27001, NEN 7510, and Privacy Verified. These are important qualifications for organisations in regulated sectors.
The acquisition: what European organisations need to know
In 2024, Zivver was acquired by Kiteworks, a US company. This acquisition has implications for data sovereignty.
As a US company, Kiteworks falls under the CLOUD Act. This law gives US authorities the power to compel companies to provide access to data they manage, even if that data is physically stored in Europe. For organisations using Zivver for patient data, legal files, or government communications, this is a relevant consideration.
Zivver has responded by emphasising that data remains confidential and that they are working with Kiteworks on strengthening data sovereignty, including through a Private Data Network initiative. The Dutch Data Protection Authority is reportedly investigating the compliance implications.
This is not a judgement on the choice of organisations to continue using Zivver. It is context that IT managers and privacy officers need to make an informed decision.
What happens before sending
BeeSensible is a browser extension for Chrome and Edge that highlights sensitive data while you type in web applications. The extension works in email (Outlook on the web, Gmail), AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude), chat (Slack, WhatsApp Web), and some social platforms.
Core features
Detection while typing: Through the desktop app, detection runs entirely on the device. For browser-only use, the text is sent to BeeSensible's EU detection service where analysis takes place in working memory. The text is discarded after detection. Detected sensitive data is highlighted in the text field.
User action: The employee sees which data has been detected and chooses: remove, replace with a realistic placeholder, or mask. BeeSensible never blocks sending and never automatically changes text.
Dashboard for administrators: Administrators see patterns by category and application without seeing the text or individual users. There is no per-employee breakdown anywhere in the dashboard.
No content storage: The text that employees type is not stored. Only counts and categories are retained for reporting.
Architecture
- With the desktop app, detection runs entirely on the device: no cloud
- For browser-only use, the API is hosted on Scaleway in the Netherlands
- Cloud detection runs on Hetzner in Germany
- All cloud processing within the EU
- No external AI services are called
The difference in practice
Scenario 1: The misdirected email
Marieke sends an email to jan.jansen@client.com. She meant jan.jansen@partner.com. The email contains project budgets and the name of an internal conflict.
With Zivver: The email is sent encrypted. Jan at the client receives a secure link. If Marieke discovers the error before Jan opens the link, she can recall the email. If Jan has already opened the email, the data has been seen.
With BeeSensible: BeeSensible highlights the sensitive content (names, amounts) while Marieke types. It does not check the email address, the email client does that. But Marieke does see what is sensitive in her draft before she sends.
Conclusion: Zivver offers a safety net after sending. BeeSensible offers awareness before sending. Neither checks addresses, but Zivver can limit damage if the error has already been made.
Scenario 2: The prompt with too much context
Bas pastes a client file into ChatGPT to create a summary. The file contains a national ID number, medical history, and the name of a doctor.
With Zivver: Zivver does nothing, because this is not an email.
With BeeSensible: BeeSensible highlights the national ID, the name, and medical terms in the ChatGPT input field. Bas sees what is sensitive and can choose to remove or replace before he sends the prompt.
Conclusion: Zivver is an email solution. BeeSensible works in all web applications where sensitive data is typed.
Scenario 3: The sensitive attachment
Sandra sends an email with an Excel attachment. The spreadsheet contains hidden columns with salary data she did not intend to share.
With Zivver: Zivver scans attachments for sensitive content and can warn that there is sensitive data in the attachment. The email is sent encrypted.
With BeeSensible: BeeSensible works in text fields, not in attachments. The hidden columns are not detected.
Conclusion: Zivver offers attachment scanning. BeeSensible is limited to text typed in the input field.
Scenario 4: The daily email routine
A customer service team sends dozens of emails per day to clients. Not every email contains special category personal data, but occasionally an ID number, account number, or medical detail slips through.
With Zivver: The team must decide for each email whether Zivver encryption is needed. This requires discipline and assessment per email.
With BeeSensible: BeeSensible automatically highlights when there is sensitive data in the text, regardless of whether the email is encrypted. The team sees it when it is relevant.
Conclusion: BeeSensible works passively and continuously. Zivver requires an active choice per email.
Scenario 5: The case file before it goes into AI
A support agent has a ten-page PDF case file and needs a two-line summary from ChatGPT. Instead of pasting the whole file into the prompt, she opens it in BeeSensible's desktop app first.
With Zivver: Zivver has nothing to say here. Nothing is being emailed, this is a document heading into an AI tool.
With BeeSensible: The desktop app opens the PDF, marks the names, national ID numbers, and case details on the page, and she unchecks anything that should stay before exporting a clean copy to paste into the prompt.
