Encrypted Email Overview
Email traditionally is insecure and the privacy of content cannot be guaranteed when sent outside the organization. Encryption secures email so that the content is not readable to unintended recipients.
NEIT uses Office 365 encryption, which is available to anyone with a NEIT email address. Use email encryption when sending to a recipient that is outside our organization in order to protect sensitive information. As long as the recipient replies using the same method they use to read an encrypted email, their response will be encrypted as well. If you have an external recipient who needs to send you private/sensitive information, you can send them an encrypted email which they can use to reply back to you. (For those who currently use sendinc.com for encrypted email, this method will replace sendinc.)
Sending Encrypted Email
- Navigate to https://outlook.office.com
- Sign in with your email address and password
- When composing a new email, click the Encrypt button.
4. Compose and send the email as you normally would
Reading and Replying to Encrypted Email Responses
Instructions for NEIT users
In most cases, when you receive a response to an encrypted email, the system will automatically decrypt the response before it is delivered to your mailbox. Some versions of Outlook for Desktop do not have the ability to decrypt encrypted emails. If you are running one of these versions, the response will be shown in your mailbox as encrypted. In order to read the email, you will need to use one of the following methods to view and respond to the email.
- Use Outlook on the web
- Use Outlook on a mobile device
- Use Outlook for Desktop and click on the Read the message link in the encrypted email. If you wish to move to a version of Outlook for Desktop that supports decrypting encrypted emails, please contact the DoTS help desk.
Instructions for External Parties (those you are sending encrypted email to)
Office 365 recipients outside of NEIT – If the recipient’s email is hosted in Office 365, their experience will be the same process as those for NEIT users reading and responding to encrypted email responses.
Other recipients – All other recipients will need to follow the “Read the message” link in the email notification they receive. Depending on their email provider, they may have different options to access the email. Regardless of the provider, the recipient will have the ability to log in using a One-Time passcode. The One-Time passcode method will send a temporary passcode to the recipient via their email. The passcode can then be entered in the Office 365 site in order to view the email.
No data that is classified as credit card or financial account information (including bank or other account numbers and routing information) shall be captured, transmitted, or stored via New England Tech email. This includes but is not limited to social security numbers, financial account & routing information, or tax forms. Data classified as personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive organization data, medical records/HIPPA protected information or information found in background checks, should only be captured, transmitted, or stored via New England Tech email for internal use only (i.e. only to and from {between} neit.edu email addresses). If it is necessary to exchange PII, sensitive, or protected information with an external party, encrypted email must be used. NEIT business must be conducted using NEIT email; the use of personal email accounts to conduct NEIT business is strictly prohibited.