Most small businesses communicate with clients via email these days; it’s faster, more convenient, and customers prefer email to snail mail or bothersome telephone calls.
But as with all other forms of communication on the internet, using email can put your company and your clients at risk. Many small businesses exchange private information with clients over email, such as confidential medical data, Social Security numbers, and payment information. If these communications are intercepted, your clients’ identity or data can be stolen, and your business is at risk for a public relations nightmare.
If your business uses email to exchange vital information – and that’s nearly every business these days – then you should be using email encryption to protect both your clientele and yourself. Encryption protects this information by making emails unreadable to anyone who does not have the encryption keys. This means that even if criminals gain access to your network somehow, they won’t be able to read or use the information they intercept.
Email encryption can work in a variety of ways, but some of the older methods were difficult for the average user to navigate. The process relied upon senders and receivers to use their encryption keys correctly, making the process burdensome for many employees of the average small business.
Modern methods of email encryption are automatic, so that the user does not need any special knowledge or training to utilize them. Automated encryption simply routes emails through a gateway appliance, where they are encrypted and sent. Emails sent within the system, such as those sent between your employees, are automatically encrypted upon sending and decrypted upon receipt. Recipients whose network is not behind the encryption gateway, such as your clients, will need to take an extra step that appears quite effortless. They will simply log into an online portal to receive and answer their messages.
It is highly likely that your business needs email encryption, for both legal and ethical reasons. Give us a call to learn more, and we can help you set up an encryption system that is thorough, secure, and easy to use.
