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Why You Should Encrypt Email
Encryption can be an invaluable tool for your company, especially where your email communications are concerned. Here, we’ll go over a few of the benefits you can see by adopting it – but first, we’ll briefly go over what encryption is.
What is Encryption?
Looking at the word itself and breaking it down into its parts, the root of the word encryption is “crypt,” from the Greek kruptos, meaning “hidden.”When something is encrypted, it just means that it is hidden from view unless one has the key to decrypt it. While the process of encryption actually scrambles the data, this is an apt way of describing the end result: when an email is encrypted, only the intended recipient will be able to read it properly.
This leads to some of the greatest benefits that this process has to offer, especially where your business’ emails are concerned.
Security
Naturally, security is the primary motivation for encrypting data, as it is a pretty effective measure to take. With so much sensitive and private data being passed along through email in businesses of all sizes, protecting it through encryption measures is a must for any organization.
Nowadays, rather than attack your network to gain access to your communications, hackers prefer to seek a peek at them while they’re in transit, outside of your business’ protections. Encryption renders them unable to do so with any efficacy. After all, a hacker would find the phrase: “Password: fn*o807jsL” very valuable… not so much when all they can see is “bh16//57xf+lkbv/sdn.”
This also ties into another reason why a business should be encrypting their emails.
Compliance
Depending on the industry it falls under; one business may have more stringent regulations than another regarding data privacy. The example you’ll likely hear is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.
Under the rules set by HIPAA, health information cannot – cannot – be shared without the patient’s consent. The thing is, if a hacker were to intercept an email that contained this information as it was being exchanged between two approved parties, this would count as a HIPAA violation. Email encryption adds that additional layer of protection to the correspondence, protecting both (in this case) patient and provider.
Efficiency
If the correct technology is leveraged, there is no longer the need to jump through hoops in order to ensure the security of your emails. That means that, rather than taking the time to manually secure your emails, your solution protects them on your behalf.
Interested in learning more about encryption and how it can benefit you? Reach out to WheelHouse IT at (877) 771-2384!
Beware of Unsolicited E-mail
Most computer users receive unexpected, annoying Emails. It happens so frequently that most E-mail account providers integrate a way to automatically divert blacklisted senders into a special type of inbox called a spam box.
“Spam” is another term used to refer to unsolicited, annoying types of E-mail — but beware, there’s more than meets the eye to spam. The use of spam is a common avenue used by criminals to illegally obtain personal information from individuals who open and/or use spam. Spam can also be used to propagate various forms of malicious software, specifically in the forms of computer viruses and spyware.
A common and specific way that criminals can take advantage of sending spam is by posing as a financial entity such as a bank or prospective creditor.
The content of the spam will request that the receiver use a provided link to navigate to a website made to look like a legitimate financial institution and in short, request the victim to divulge personal information leading to identity theft, to say the least. Although computer users have become more aware of the said technique used by criminals, the danger of this type of attack still exists.
As said, propagating computer viruses and spyware is another reason criminals take advantage of spam. If an unsolicited E-mail is decorated to look like the sender is honest and the
E-mail is carrying some type of computer virus, the computer being used to view and/or use the contents can become infected. The virus, installed inadvertently by the recipient of the Email, will generally log what the computer user does and forward that data to a criminal across the internet to be used for illegal purposes.
Common sense can be a powerful tool in the fight against illegal computer activity. However, some people, due to their busy schedules, do not have time to research the fundamentals of protecting themselves from criminal behavior revolving around computer usage.
Therefore, if there is a concern regarding any of the above points, please contact us so that we may assist in resolving it.