How To Set Up An Encrypted Email

When you need to send emails with sensitive information in Outlook, yous might want to encrypt information technology. Encrypted emails send from Outlook or Office 365 can only be read by the recipient that has the private key, preventing others from reading the content of the mail. It as well can protect your email from existence forwarded.

If y'all have Office 365 and so sending encrypted mail is actually easy. You tin can practice this without installing whatever certificates from both Outlook as Outlook Online to whatever recipient (Gmail, iCloud, Outlook).

Other options to secure your electronic mail in Outlook are to utilize Cerficiates or a third-political party add-in for Outlook.

In this commodity, we are going to take a look at the dissimilar options, how to use them and what the pros and cons are from each of them.

E-mail Encryption Options

As mentioned in the beginning there are three ways to basically secure your email from Outlook. Each of them has at that place own advantages, only some are harder to set up. We have the following options when it comes to email encryption:

Office 365 Message Encryption – Part of Office 365. Easy to use, does not require to install certificates. You tin transport emails to any email customer. Requires a couple of handlings to open the email when not using Outlook though.
Certificate-based Encryption – Both sender and recipient demand to have public certificates to encrypt and decrypt the email. Harder to install, but in the cease easier to use if you are sending a lot of encrypted emails.
Outlook Add-ins – If y'all don't have Office 365 then y'all can easily transport encrypted emails using a third-political party add-in.

Office 365 Encrypted Email

Microsoft Office 365 Message Encryption (OME) allows y'all to hands ship encrypted emails to your recipient. The advantage of OME is that you and the recipient don't need to install any document to encrypt or open the email.

When you ship an email with Office 365 Message Encryption, the recipient receives an email with but the bailiwick. Depending on the mail client of the recipients, they can either just open up the email (verification is done in the background) or the recipient tin can read the e-mail and attachments in an online environment after an extra verification step.

You will need to send the email from Outlook or Outlook Online, but the recipient doesn't need to take Outlook or an Function 365 subscription. Encrypted emails tin exist opened with any e-mail client.

To employ Part 365 Message Encryption y'all will need to have one the following Microsoft 365 Plans:

Microsoft 365 Personal or Family
Function 365 Enterprise E3 or E5
Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5
Microsoft 365 Business organization Premium
Office 365 A1, A3, or A5

How-to Ship Encrypted Email Outlook

To ship an encrypted email from Outlook you don't need to gear up anything. Y'all can just compose a new email and encrypt it:

Compose a new email

Open Outlook and compose a new email. Simply add the recipient, subject, and body. You tin can also add attachments to the e-mail, merely like you normally do:
Encrypt Email

The adjacent step is to encrypt the email:
– Select Options
– Click on Encrypt

You can also select other options under encrypt which I will explain later.
It'southward possible to move the Encrypt button to the first tab "Message". This will save you lot one actress click to encrypt emails.
Ship the email

After you have practical the encryption you will run into a small note above the address fields that the e-mail is encrypted.

Click on Ship to send the e-mail to the recipient(s).
Opening the Encrypted Electronic mail in Outlook

If the recipient is using Outlook then they receive the secure email with the original subject and a lock icon.

Outlook volition verify the recipient in the background after you lot double-click on the email. It will then open merely similar a normal electronic mail.

Opening a Secure E-mail in other Mail Clients

The recipient does non need to have Outlook or Role 365 to open up the encrypted email. When you send a secure email to Gmail for example the recipient volition come across only the subject and a push to the read the message.

When y'all click on Read the message you lot volition be sent to Outlook Online where you need to verify your account. Depending on the client, this can be done with a Ane-fourth dimension passcode which will be sent to the intended recipient or by signing with the identity provider of your post client (Gmail, Yahoo ID, Personal Microsoft Account)

Later verification, you can read the email and attachment in the Outlook Online environment. The recipient can reply or forward (when allowed) the email while keeping the encryption in place.

Send Encrypted Email from Office 365

Role 365 secure emails can be transport using Outlook Online. The principal and technique are the same equally with Outlook, only the menu looks a chip different.

Compose a new email in Outlook Online
Select Encrypt in the toolbar
Click Modify Permissions if you too want to prevent forwarding of the email
Click Ship when done.

If yous don't encounter the encrypt button, then click on the iii dots. You lot can besides add the encrypt button to the lesser toolbar:

Select the gear icon and choose All Outlook Settings
Select Mail
Cull Customize Actions
Enable Encrypt.

Prevent forwarding of emails in Outlook

Y'all tin not only encrypt emails in Outlook simply likewise prevent them from existence forwarded. This way you can ensure that the e-mail will on exist read by the person you lot have to transport information technology to.

When you lot apply the encryption on a new message in Outlook you go a couple of options:

Encrypt
Exercise Not Forward
Confidential
Highly Confidential

When selecting Do Not Forward the email will be encrypted and can't be forwarded, printed, and y'all tin't copy the content. This way y'all can be certain that only the intended recipient tin can read the content of the email.

Movement the Encrypt button in Outlook

A small tip that will make encrypting messages a footling bit easier in Outlook is to move the encrypt button from the Options tab to the Message tab. This way, when y'all are typing a new email, yous tin can encrypt it with ane click.

Open up a new mail
Right-click on the toolbar
Choose Customize the ribbon
Expand Options in the right column
Select Encrypt
Use the upwards pointer to move it to New Mail Message

Remove encryption from send emails

In Outlook it is possible to remove the encryption of the email after you have sent it. Afterward y'all have removed the encryption recipient tin read the email without verification.

Get to your send items in Outlook
Open the encrypted mail that you take sent
Select File and select Unrestricted Admission under Encrypt.

Office 365 Message Encryption Branding

With the aid of PowerShell, you tin utilise custom branding to OME messages. Custom branding helps your recipient with regonizing your emails and makes them more trustworty.

We can customize the following items in both the e-mail and online portal:

Add a logo
Background and push color
Introduction text
Button Text
Clarification text
Disclaimer

To customize the template yous will need to have the Exchange Online module installed for PowerShell. Also, we need to know the proper name of the current template that is being used. Nearly probable information technology is "OME Configuration"

We are first going to check the current configuration:

# Connect to Commutation Online Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName [electronic mail protected]  # Become the current configuation Get-OMEConfiguration | fl

Adding a logo and background color

You can add your company logo to the OME bulletin and portal. The optimal size of the logo is 170×lxx pixels, less than 40KB and supported formats are png, jpg, BMP, and tiff. Transparency is supported with png.

The Identity is name of the default template that we have simply looked upward. You can upload the prototype with Go-Content from whatever location on your reckoner.

# Set your ain logo Fix-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -Image (Get-Content "C:\temp\Logo-LazyAdmin.png" -Encoding byte)

To change the background color you can use whatsoever RGB color in a hexadecimal format. The button volition have the same color as the groundwork.

# Change the groundwork color Set-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -BackgroundColor "#343e47"

Changing the text items

There are a couple of text items that you can change. By default you will meet the senders name (and e-mail address) followed past the line "has sent y'all a protected message". You can alter this with the following cmdlet:

# Change introduction line Prepare-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -IntroductionText "has send you lot an encrypted bulletin"

The button text tin can be inverse as followed, merely don't make the text to long, because information technology will mess upward the layout of the button.

# Change read message button Ready-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -ReadButtonText "Open Message"

And the text below the button

# Text below the button Set-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -EmailText "This Encrypted message was sent to you by LazyAdmin"

You can too add you lot own disclaimer and privacy link to the message:

# Privacy Argument URL Set-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -PrivacyStatementUrl "https://lazyadmin.nl"  # Disclaimer Set-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -DisclaimerText "This encrypted message is confidential for the utilise of the addressee only. Practise not decrypted if you lot are not the addressee"

We can also add together the text line to the portal, where the recipient can read the post. You lot tin add together teaching hither for example.

Set-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -PortalText "This highly secure email is brought to you by LazyAdmin"

Change verification options

By default, the recipient tin cosign with a one-fourth dimension passcode or identity provider similar Microsoft, Google, or Yahoo. Information technology'southward possible to disable this, but keep in mind that you volition need to utilize one of the 2 options. Yous tin can't disable them both.

# Disable identity providers Set-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -SocialIdSignIn $false  # Disable One-time password Set-OMEConfiguration -Identity "OME Configuration" -OTPEnabled $false

Encrypting post using Certificates

Emails that yous ship can also exist encrypted with certificates. The advantage of certificates is that yous can open the post normally. But there is i huge downside of using certificates, your recipient also needs to have its own certificate.

The initial setup is pretty hard, both parties need to buy a certificate online, which costs betwixt $30 and $250 per twelvemonth depending on your requirements. Yous will need to add the document to your Outlook and first send each other a signed email.

With the signed email you automatically receive the public cardinal of the other. This allows you to encrypt the postal service with the public key of the recipient, which then can merely be decrypted on a computer that has the matching certificate installed.

If you lot want to read the encrypted email on your phone, and so yous first need to install the certificate on your phone as well. The same goes for Outlook Online.

Certificates are really secure once properly installed but are not really user-friendly. The document basically allows y'all to receive encrypted mail service because your recipient needs to have a certificate earlier you lot can send an encrypted email.

This process is only recommended when your business concern really requires it.

Using third-party add together-in for sending secure mails

If you lot don't have an Office 365 subscription then you tin can also use a tertiary-party add together-in for Outlook. These add-ins work pretty much on the same principle as the Function 365 Message Encryption service, with the only difference that the post is e'er sent to their online mailbox.

Encyro offers a plugin that you can employ for free to send encrypted letters to any email address. You tin can utilize the online portal or the Outlook add-in to etch and send secure postal service.

Installation is pretty straight forward and only the sender needs to accept the Encyro account to starting to transport encrypted emails. The recipient receives, just like with OME, a link to the secure message.

Only who is opening the link isn't verified by default, so anybody that has access to the link tin open up the encrypted post. The link itself nevertheless is only valid for a couple of days, so that makes information technology a flake more secure.

The advantage of this method is that the recipient doesn't need to perform multiple steps to open up the encrypted mail service. You can also require that the recipient also create a gratuitous Encyro account, forcing them to log in earlier opening the mail.

Wrapping Up

There are multiple ways to encrypt e-mail in Outlook. The most convenient one is using Office 365 message encryption if that is part of your licenses. Add-ins can be useful, only if you have Part 365 it might be easier and cheaper to upgrade your license plan.

Using certificates to encrypt email is only useful if yous are sending a lot of secure emails to a selected group of recipients. Keep in heed that all parties demand to have their own certificate.