If you need to send a sensitive email, Outlook allows you to easily encrypt messages. As Microsoft explains in this article - "Encrypting an email message in Outlook means it's converted from readable plain text into scrambled cipher text. Only the recipient who has the private key that matches the public key used to encrypt the message can decipher the message for reading. Any recipient without the corresponding private key, however, sees indecipherable text." Encrypting a message is easy, just follow these steps.
Encrypting a message using the Outlook desktop client
- Start a new message in Outlook and add your recipient(s)
- Go to the Options tab and click the down arrow under the Encryption button. You will have two choices: Encrypt-Only and Do Not Forward. The latter option is more restrictive because it prevents the recipient(s) from forwarding, printing or copying the email.
- Finish composing your email and then choose Send.
Encrypting a message using web Outlook
- Start a new message in Outlook and add your recipient(s)
- Go to the Options tab and click the lock button. You will have two choices: Encrypt and Do Not Forward. The latter option is more restrictive because it prevents the recipient(s) from forwarding, printing or copying the email.
- Finish composing your email and then choose Send.
Receiving an encrypted message
If you send an encrypted message, the recipient will see a pad lock icon next to the message. If Do Not Forward was chosen, the forward, print and copy buttons/options will be grayed out. As the sender, you should see the same pad lock icon next to the message when you go to your Sent Items folder in Outlook.
View the permissions of the message
The recipient of the encrypted message can view the message permissions by clicking the information button ("i") and selecting View Permissions.
Messages sent outside the organization
If you send an encrypted message to someone outside of Buffalo State, the recipient will receive an email containing a link to view/read the message.
When clicking the link to read the message, the recipient will be prompted to sign-in their email account. For example, if the encrypted message is sent to someone with a Gmail account, when the click the Read the message link, they will be prompted to sign-in to their Gmail account.
