How Email Encryption Works

Most people are confused with how email encryption works so we will clarify it here. There are two types of email encryption. The first way is to "encrypt" or scamble the acutal message so that it is unreadable, this usually involves installing some sort of plugin or software to encrypt the message before sending it out. You can then safely send it over an unsecure connection, so even if a hacker intercepts that message he won't be able to read it. Then the recipient would also need to install a plugin or software in order to "decrypt" or unscramble the message into a readable format. For most people, this is a very complicated process and time consuming way of sending email securely.

The second way is sending the message over a secure encrypted connection, the connection cannot be hacked or intercepted so there is no need to "encrypt" or scramble the actual message, this is the same security the banks use to provide you with a secure online banking connection. The nice thing about this is the sender can send a message as normal and the recipient receives the message regularly without the need to decrypt the message, all the encryption happens in the background, so sending email securely is a more seemless experience. Email Pros uses secure encrypted connections to provide you with the best overall experience in sending secure email.

HIPAA requires that you use one of these methods to be compliant. If you are in the health industry and not using any type of security for your email communications, you will fail a HIPAA audit and be charged with fines up to $1.5 million. In the near future, email archiving will also become a HIPAA requirement, we are already one step ahead and include this feature with our service. So getting your company HIPAA compliant with our secure email service starting at only $9.95 per month is the best thing you can do for your business now.

 

How Encrypted Connections Work

We will explain how encrypted connections work. Whenever you send or receive email, you must connect through the Internet to an email service provider / email server. Most individuals use free email services such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or AOL. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as AT&T or Verizon. Or like most businesses, you are likely using email services from a web hosting company such as GoDaddy, HostGator, 1&1, etc. Here is the reality: most email service providers only offer the standard, unencrypted / unsecured connections necessary for email communications. Meaning any sensitive information you send through the Internet via email can be intercepted and stolen by thieves. See the diagram below.

It gets worse! Once you send off an email to your email service provider, they in turn connect to the receiving party's email server using an unencrypted / unsecured connection as well. Your receiving party then connects to their email service using an unsecure connection to receive that email. So as can see below, there are three vulnerable points in this chain of communication: sending an email, transmitting that email from one service provider to another, and receiving that email. It's a big melting pot of unsecure email communications and is NOT HIPAA Compliant! See the diagram below.

 

HIPAA Compliant Email Encryption

The first step in securing your email communications is signing up with Email Pros. Unlike other email service providers, we encrypt our connection to your device using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), the same encryption banks use for online banking. So any sensitive information you send to or receive from our email server is 100% secure. See the diagram below.

In order for your email communications to be 100% secure to others, the receiving party must be using a secure email service provider as well. Once we receive your email, our server then encrypts the transmission to the other secure email service provider using Transport Layer Security (TLS), and they will in turn provide an encrypted connection to the receiving party. See the diagram below.

All internal email communication is 100% secure. Since the email never leaves our system, you can safely send sensitive information to any person within your organization, in any location, or any other Email Pros customer using our secured email services. See the diagram below.

Now what if the receiving party is not using a secure email service provider? No problem! We offer Secure File Link to send files via a secure encrypted link to the recipient. They simply click on the link that opens up a secure web page, enter a password you provide them, and download the file securely. No need to install any plugin or software. This is a complete end-to-end secure file sending solution! See the diagram below.