How many email messages do you send in a day? Do you send confidential contracts, sales reports, or sensitive company information in email messages? Do you know how easy it is for someone to read your email? When you send an email it travels through several intermediate computers before reaching its final destination. At any one of these intermediate points a program could be set up to intercept or read your email messages, thus exposing any sensitive information or documents that your email might contain.

Also, you may delete email from your computer that contains sensitive or confidential information, but do you know how long your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or your organization stores backup copies of email messages on their servers? Backups of these messages can remain on your ISP or your organization's servers for several months, or even years! And don't forget about "electronic discovery"... attorneys love to sift through thousands of emails just to find the "right" one, and then you would wish that you had encrypted your email messages!

Several programs are available which make it easy to encrypt your email messages. Two programs to take a look at are: Hushmail, a free web-based email encryption program, and the Secured eMail® ePrivacy Suite which includes an email encryption program that integrates directly into Microsoft® Outlook™.

With the Hushmail program you just set up an email account with them and log into their webmail system and draft your email. When you send your email the contents are encrypted and you choose a "shared secret" that the recipient needs in order to open your email. The recipient does not need to have a Hushmail account to open the email or send you an encrypted reply.

However, there a few drawbacks to the Hushmail system. It can be cumbersome to check an additional webmail service throughout the day, especially if you are used to viewing your email using Microsoft® Outlook™. Also, the free service only gives you two megabytes of email storage, compared to Google's 2.5 gigabytes of free storage, and there is no spell check function. This is where the Secured eMail® ePrivacy Suite really steps up.

The Secured eMail® software integrates into Microsoft® Outlook™ or Lotus Notes® so that you can choose to send a secure email using your existing email account by simply pressing the "Send Secure" button which is located just below Outlook's "Send" button. The amount of email that you can send, receive, or store is only limited to that of your current email and computer system.

The Secured eMail® program is designed to be easy to use for recipients of your encrypted emails who may not be using the Secured eMail® software. The person that you are sending a Secured eMail® to simply downloads the free Secured eMail® reader to open your encrypted message. If the recipient is using Microsoft® Outlook™ or Lotus Notes® they can reply to your message securely as many times as they like, for free! The Secured eMail® program also operates on a "shared secret" concept which makes it easy for the recipient to view your message and each secure email that is sent includes an explanation of how to download the free email reader and how to open the email.

Email is used everyday by real estate professionals, public records folks, attorneys, and just about everyone else in the world. What confidential information and documents are you sending through email? Are you really sure no one is reading your email? Your email is at risk of being read by someone other than its intended recipient as hackers continue to exploit holes in email systems around the world. By using an email encryption program you can help limit the exposure of your confidential information and documents.

If you would like more information about email and file encryption and the Secured eMail® software, please give us a call. We can provide you with the software and help you implement your encrypted email and file system. You owe it to yourself and your organization to secure your confidential information and documents!

Steve Wede is a Certified Information Privacy Professional and Privacy Guru at Privacy & Security Solutions, Inc. a San Diego based consulting firm. The Privacy Gurus® work with you to create policies and procedures to establish the expectation of privacy for your members, clients, customers, prospects, affiliates, associates, employees and vendors. You can reach Steve at (619) 670-9462 or Steve@privacygurus.com. Visit our website www.privacygurus.com for more privacy and information security articles.

Scott Reynolds is a Security Guru with Privacy & Security Solutions, Inc. and Managing Partner at Ardent Information Security, Inc. a San Diego based premier provider of managed security solutions. A managed solution from Ardent means knowing that your critical infrastructure is being protected from current and emerging threats. You can reach Scott at (858) 218-5705 or Scott@ardentinfosec.com. Visit www.ardentinfosec.com for more information about our managed security solutions.

Please feel free to email us with any questions or issues you would like to see addressed in our newsletter. We would appreciate hearing from you and addressing any issue that is on your mind. Email us at info@privacygurus.com