What is Email Encrption?

Email encryption is the process of encrypting, or disguising, the content of email messages to protect sensitive information from being read by unintended recipients, or cybercriminals looking to steal valuable information. The fact of the matter is that email continues to be the primary attack vector for cybercriminals. As such, it's important for organizations of all sizes to practice proper email security hygiene and utilize an email encryption solution when sending intellectual property or other sensitive information over email. Learn how to further secure your email environment by encrypting emails!

Why is email encryption important?

Email often contains sensitive or confidential information. When email encryption is employed, it provides the essential security needed to protect that information. As such, organizations of all sizes often employ email encryption as a part of their cybersecurity strategies.

How to send encrypted email with EmailDefence

EmailDefence’s Secure Messaging protects sensitive data by making it easy for users to send and receive secure messages, and enabling policy-initiated secure messages at the email encryption gateway for an added layer of security.

Here’s how it works:

• When employees need to send an encrypted email, they simply create a new email in Outlook and select a Send Secure checkbox on the EmailDefence’s Encryption for Outlook tab. Secure messaging can also be automatically triggered when email content or attachments meet certain policy criteria.
• Once the user presses send, the email and attachments are securely uploaded to an email server on the EmailDefence’s Encryption cloud, scanned for malware, checked against email privacy, content and data leak prevention (DLP) policies, and then stored in a secure AES-encrypted archive.
• A notification message is sent to the recipient of the email, directing the recipient to log into the Secure Messaging portal where they can read and reply to secure messages and compose a new message to the original sender.

Benefits of EmailDefence’s secure email encryption service

Secure messages are scanned for anti-virus, data leaks and compliance policies to help meet requirements for HIPAA, GLBA and PCI-DSS regulations. EmailDefence also provides anti-virus and malware protection for all inbound and outbound email.

• Simplify your secure email encryption with no certificate or encryption key management required.
• Set granular message controls to rapidly revoke message access, require read receipts, enforce message expiration dates and prevent Reply, Reply all and printing.
• Protect sensitive data more effectively — messages sent via EmailDefence Secure Messaging never leave EmailDefence's secure web portal.
• Automatically encrypt messages that meet certain criteria, including messages sent to a specific domain or recipient, messages that contain specific keywords in the subject line, or as a fallback option to enforced TLS encryption.
• Customize the branding and tailor your secure web portal to meet your corporate branding guidelines, giving users a consistent experience on any recipient device.
• Lower your costs with no required installation of new hardware or software, helping to reduce expenses and improve ROI.