Email Encryption is Essential to Protect Your Confidential Communications.

There’s a few security measures that are commonly thought of as “common sense.” Of course you should download anti-virus software and firewalls! Everybody knows this, right? In all honestly, some people don’t understand the importance of security. While these security measures may appear to be “common sense,” they’re not so common after all.

For example, do you encrypt your email communications? This is extremely important, yet it’s one of those “optional” security measures. Think about it: if you’re sending a confidential letter to someone, the post office will provide a tracking number or ask for a return receipt, in order to protect the letter during transmission. So why wouldn’t you take similar precautions with a confidential email? If you encrypt your emails, you can prevent hackers from intercepting during the email transfer.

How Does Email Encryption Work?

Email encryption uses a pair of keys: a public key and a private key. These keys are created as a pair. The encrypted messages can only be read using the other key in the pair. This type of encryption is known as Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

If someone wants to send you a confidential email, they would encrypt the email using your public key. Then you can use your private key to make the email readable. If an encrypted email is intercepted, it would be unreadable without the private key.

While confidential emails must be encrypted, you should also sign or encrypt other emails as well. If all your emails are encrypted, you’re able to protect confidential emails. If only a select few are encrypted, you can’t protect the confidential emails. How does this make sense? Well, if you encrypt 1 out of every 100 emails, a hacker will be intrigued. You can bet the hacker will find a way to decrypt those confidential emails.

Why Should I Encrypt My Emails?

Email will always be a vulnerable service. In fact, email is one of the least secure ways to send sensitive information. A firewall or anti-virus software will not protect emails that are entering or exiting your network. Without encryption, your emails can easily be intercepted, sent, or viewed by unauthorized individuals.

To learn more about email encryption, give us a call at (416) 840-6560 or send us an email at {email}. CAT-TEC can help you encrypt your emails to prevent unauthorized individuals from intercepting, redirecting, or viewing your confidential emails.