Ordinarily, when you send email attachments across the Internet, it will travel through a number of different computers or servers. Anyone with access to these servers can, if they want, look at the contents of the mail - including the attachments. In a sense, it is like sending confidential information on a postcard. Anybody with access to the postcard en-route can read the contents.
If the email attachment is encrypted, then a casual reader will not be able to read the documents in transit. Only the recipient with the right key will be able to decrypt and read the attachment.
Encrypt mail attachments
With PrivateFile Desktop you can encrypt email attachments so that they are securely transmitted.You don’t want other people to see confidential reports or other business information as it travels across the Internet.
Steps
Agree Key
When you decide to send an encrypted document, you first need to agree with the recipient, the encryption key that you will use to encrypt the document. The recipient uses the same key to decrypt the document. We recommend that you do NOT use email to agree the key. If you regularly send attachments to the same person, then you can store their key in the PrivateFilekeystore. This means you will not have to type in their key each time.
Encrypt Document
Use PrivateFile to encrypt the document with the key.
Attach & Send
Create your email, attach the encrypted document and send it to the recipient.
Privacy Legislation
Many countries have legislation in place which requires that personal information be kept securely. This could also mean that any personal information being sent in email attachments should be encrypted in order to protect it from casual observers.
