All businesses, regardless of size, should be taking measures to protect their digital data. This includes protecting business emails that are sent on a daily basis. Many people do not realize that their unsecured emails can be intercepted by unintended parties. This can put the welfare of your business and your customers or clients in jeopardy.
What can you do to protect your business? Consider using email encryption technology. In fact, certain industries such as professionals working in the medical field must use encryption in order to comply with regulatory requirements. However, your business can also protect itself by implementing new email standards as part of your data protection policies.
An updated data protection policy should require employees to implement password protection on any device that accesses work emails. Employees should understand that the use of an employee-owned device for work purposes means that the employer’s electronic use policies apply to that device. In other words, the employee agrees that there are no privacy rights when a device is used for work purposes. There should also be a policy which sets forth the employer’s right to physically or remotely access the employee-owned device.
One of the most effective ways to protect your business emails is to use end-to-end encryption. This requires your messages to be encrypted before they are sent and the recipient to decrypt them by using a special “key.” In other words, a third-party who intercepts the email while in transit will not be able to read it or any attachments without the key.
Encrypting your emails doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, there are apps that work with almost any type of business email to clients. The recipients don’t have to install a program to read the email. Instead, they simply click on a link to read your encrypted message.
If you have questions regarding encrypting your business emails or protecting your company’s intellectual property, contact us for help.
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