Enterprise email accounts are constantly used to send, receive and store messages and their attachments.
As a result, those with access to them can read, alter, delete or download the content they contain. Typically, emails often contain confidential and sensitive information. This may involve details of business agreements, company credit card numbers, and personal information on employees, customers and partners.
For this reason, it is essential that email accounts and the messages they send and receive are properly protected. Today, we’re going to look at two terms – “secure email” and “encrypted email” – that refer to two different types of protection.
Secure email
“Secure email” is a broad term that covers a range of protective measures. Secure email usually involves employing a trusted secure email service – for example, Secure Socket Layers, or SSL, which creates a secure connection between a dedicated web server and browser.
Secure email methods typically involve protecting the email account rather than its content. For instance, strong passwords and tough-to-crack security questions can be employed to make it difficult to access accounts. The latest advice for creating passwords is to use a combination of three words that are not associated with one another, with length often a better factor than complexity.
As for security questions, the best practice is to create your own rather than using pre-selected options. The default questions tend to be simpler and involve answers that involve personal information. If you must answer these, use a false answer.
Multi-factor authentication is another option for secure email. The most common form is to receive a code to your mobile device to enter after your password and username, but other options involve facial recognition and fingerprint scans.
Email encryption
While secure email solutions work while data is stored in an account, as soon as an email is sent it is left unprotected. Email encryption secures the message and its attachment, not the account where they are kept or delivered to. Providing comprehensive security, encryption makes sure that only those with the appropriate encryption key can ever view or interact with an email’s content, whether it is stored in an account outbox or being sent to a recipient.
Encrypt your company emails today
For a user-friendly but powerful encryption software for your firm, contact Galaxkey today, and encrypt your emails and the data files you attach to them with a two-week trial of our secure solution.
