Should Your Email be Encrypted?

Encrypting your email allows your organization to send emails with end-to-end encryption – so important documents such as contracts or company plans can be safely and securely sent via email. Why encrypt email? Email is a convenient, fast and efficient way to communicate and share important information. However, it is an inherently insecure medium, as emails travels through multiple public and private networks and data lines between sender and recipient. Because email by default is sent in a unencrypted format, anyone who can intercept the email in transit, can easily access of its its contents, including any attachments. By encrypting your email, only the sender and recipients, who have a special decryption key, can read the contents of the message and its attachments. If someone intercepts an encrypted message, or tries to access it without permission and the decryption key, they will be unable to read the email or its attachment. Who Should Encrypt email? All businesses, and their professional advisors, agents and clients should take steps to protect the privacy of their email. Businesses that need encrypted email include: Financial Services – Banks, brokerages, insurance companies, wealth management, accountants, financial advisors Healthcare – Physicians, clinics, health associations, health networks, hospitals, pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies Business Professionals – Lawyers, headhunters, investigators, consultants, human resource professionals, embassies Businesses need to be able to trust email communications and reduce the risk of damage to their brand. Professional advisors such as lawyers, financial advisors, accountants, educators, and healthcare providers, all have ethical and fiduciary duties to keep their clients’ personal information confidential.Governments have enacted legislative measures to protect the privacy and reliability of business and personal information. Please review the privacy and compliance guides for your specific industry. Resources: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) California Security Breach Notification Act (SB 1386)