Emails are one of the secure ways to communicate professionally. Yet, is it one hundred percent secure? 

No, at least not, unless and until you set up an email encryption system. There are high chances that any unauthorized person couldn’t access your mail without encryption. 

After all, you don’t want the whole world to see what you are sending. And since we are mentioning professional conversations, many emails have confidential information that should stay inside the company only. For example, it can have a check to pay bills or some sort of extremely important credentials and whatnot. 

Now that you have got an idea why we are emphasizing encrypting your emails, let’s have a look at the topic from scratch. This article has got you covered with details, including what email encryption is, why it is beneficial, and some of the best email encryption services you can opt for. Stick till the end to find out! 

What is Email Encryption?

Email encryption is a way to secure confidential information from being accessed by an unauthorized person. Email encryption helps to protect sensitive data. With encryption, the emails are converted into some code language that could only be read or decrypted by the intended reader. Apart from the potential sender and intended receiver, no other person could read the message. 

It also requires the authentication procedure for the decryption of the message. Without encryption, most of the information we use to send emails is prone to hackers. These hackers can gain access to our important information like login details, bank account details, etc., apart from these. They can hack the whole email account of the person and use it for illegal purposes.

Email encryption ensures that the information sent over emails starts from the source and reaches the destination without interruption. Even if someone hampers with the message, he will not be able to get the content in the email. Because of all these reasons, it is very important to have email encryption services installed on our devices. With email encryption, anyone from the sender to and receiver would only get a jumbled set of words or characters. 

Email encryption can be of the following types:

• Pretty Good Privacy(PGP) This email encryption was invented around 1991. It is used to encrypt emails as well as files. PGP uses a set of key pairs to encrypt and decrypt the data of the emails. This was initially freeware and gained popularity among users. 
• Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension(S/MIME) This email encryption service was developed by RSA Data Security, and today it is used by most users as advanced email securing software.
• Transport Layer Security(TLS) It is a kind of protocol to protect the data sent over any network. This protocol is very much in use for the encryption and decryption of information on the web. 

How Does Encryption Protect Email?

Encryption can protect emails by two methods. Emails can be secured while they are in the sending process. Apart from this, they can be secured from the sender and receiver sides. To protect the email in transit, email service providers make use of Transport Layer Security. 

With TLS, the communication of emails becomes secure, and attackers and hackers cannot peep into the sensitive information. When the emails are in the process of sending, TLS makes the passage secure and safe so that any unauthorized person can read no information in between. 

Even if the passage is secure, hackers can still get to the message from the users’ end. Hence, end-to-end safety is also required for complete security. For this purpose, PGP and S/MIME protocols are used. These help to transfer messages securely over the network. 

They do so by making the message unreadable by candidates other than the authorized users at both ends. The service converts the message into code at the sender’s end. Only at the receiver’s end does the message get decoded. This whole system of protecting the data is what we call an end-to-end encryption method. 

Benefits of Using Email Encryption

Email encryption is necessary to secure the emails sent over the network. It becomes more important when we use a public network or any open Wi-Fi service. Email encryption provides us with lots of benefits, some of which are given below:

• Security of sensitive information With the help of email encryption, we can secure our sensitive information. We use emails for sending important details like company secrets, legal papers, personal details, information about the assets of the company, and many more. An unencrypted message is prone to cyber-attacks. So, emails are required to be encrypted to avoid any leakage of sensitive information. Data will not be compromised with the use of email encryption. 
• Authenticity Email encryption will help the sender and receiver to identify each other. The use of digital signatures can further confirm that the information is untouched by any unauthorized source. If we talk about a whole organization, this email encryption service can prevent any malicious activity from attacking the organization’s whole system. It will prevent it from corrupting anything in the system. 
• Cost-saving Email encryption can also prove cost-effective. If the companies only use it on the email platform, then users or employees would not need to install another email encryption software. This would save the overall cost. 
• Prevents risks With the help of email encryption, business risks can be prevented. Any useful information traveling within the organization, like trade secrets, new project details, etc., can be secured.  

The Best Email Encryption Services

Because of the benefits it offers, email encryption services are much in need and demand. There are many choices available for email encryption. And choosing one out of these can be a challenging task. Here is a list of a few email encryption services:

1. Trustifi

If any organization wants to have an email encryption service but doesn’t want to have the selection procedure for every mail. In this case, Trustifi can be a great choice. With just a click, Trustifi can help you secure all the emails that are being sent and received in the organization.

Key Features:

• It can easily detect any fraud happening anywhere in the network.
• It provides proper encryption services to the organization.
• It protects the attachments of the email. 
• It scans if the content is vulnerable. 
• It boosts the productivity of the organization. 

Trustifi is very easy to install and run. Also, it is very easy to understand the procedure of using Trustifi. Only a click is required while sending the messages. Every organization can have its customized plan for using Trustifi. 

2. ProtonMail

ProtonMail encryption is free to use. It is used to provide end-to-end encryption to emails. It works on all devices and allows an attachment size of 25MB. It also supports scheduled emails. It allows users to send around 150 emails in a day. 

Key Features:

• No personal information is required to create the account for sending emails.
• Users can organize mail properly with ProtonMail encryption.
• It provides a storage space of 500 MB.
• There are no advertisements shown in any of the emails.
• It works both on Android and iOS mobile platforms.

One thing that we value is how the business communicates its mission and sense of corporate responsibility. You will feel incredibly personal to be a paying member of the Proton services, including Mail, Drive, VPN, etc.  It is so secure that the employees of ProtonMail cannot read the email content. It is used on both websites and mobile applications.  

3. StartMail

StartMail helps users to create, manage and send emails in an encrypted format. PHP service may be used in this, and it requires a password to open the email. Different aliases can be created for different uses. Users can also dispose of them when the task is done. This service is suitable for small, mid-sized as well as large enterprises. It is supported on the web, Android as well as iOS platforms. 

Key Features:

• One-click encryption is done with PHP service.
• It does not require the senders and receivers to have it installed. It can be used to send emails to others even if they do not have StartMail. 
• It offers storage of up to 10 GB.
• StartMail helps users to have temporary emails for multiple purposes. 
• It requires two-factor authentication for securing emails.

The PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encryption, created in 1991, is the foundation of the service. Digital key pairs are used by PGP, and each pair has two keys: a public key and a private key. The private key is kept secret and is used to decrypt the mail, but the public key, as the name suggests, is used to encrypt the mail. StartMail setup and configuration are simple as pie.

4. SecureMyEmail

SecureMyEmail email encryption is suitable for sending all the information over the network. It is compatible with other platforms like google, yahoo, iCloud, etc. The user is not required to create a new email to use SecureMyEmail. 

Key Features:

• It is very user-friendly and provides a dashboard for managing emails.
• You can easily manage the personal details of the account and overall business operations.
• Since it uses PGP for encryption, it can be used anywhere for security over the web. 
• On the left side, the user can find all the blocks of inboxes, spam, etc.
• For new messages, a big tab is provided in SecureMyEmail. 

One can easily sink their emails with it and start using it. PGP is used by it, and a different passcode is required to access it, which is not the same as the normal password. A secure key pair is used by it. 

5. Skiff

Skiff provides the user with an inbox that keeps the privacy of messages. Skiff provides end-to-end encryption services to users. One user can share documents with other users safely and securely. It is very easy to sign up for the platform. This can work on web browsers as well as mobile also. 

Key Features:

• It can make collaboration in real-time possible.
• One can stay in complete control of their sensitive information.
• You can change the display name if you want to in the appearance section.
• While using Skiff, only the user can access the recovery key and no one else.
• The setting and resetting of passwords are quite easy. 

The use of Skiff is free of cost, but may also be paid if extra services are required. It is simple to use, but technical persons may also use the advanced features of Skiff. It allows sharing of files and a proper cloud storage facility. There is two-factor authentication for email users. 

6. Symantec

Symantec is a product offered by Broadcom. It provides secure email communication. Service of encryption, as well as secure email, are provided by Symantec. Symantec can support and run various other services like Yahoo, Outlook, and Gmail. 

Key Features:

• Its management console is centralized. 
• Users can choose customized plans as per their requirements.
• Encryption software is used while setting up the Symantec platform. 
• People can also use it as a desktop encryption tool.
• Policies are made, and emails are verified according to these policies. 

With Symantec, users can have secure communication, and the system can be free from spam, viruses, or other attacks. It is supported on both Android and iOS platforms. It offers PDF encryption. This is useful when the user is involved in one-way communication, as only people with a password can access PDFs. 

7. FastMail

FastMail provides email services to organizations as well as individuals. It is available in many languages, up to 36 languages. The calendar can be shared with other people in the network by using FastMail. 

Key Features:

• It provides a hassle-free search facility. 
• The email address can be customized per the individual’s needs and interests. 
• Users can add events to their calendars with ease. 
• FastMail also helps users to manage their accounts with utmost ease. 

Important messages can be pinned to the top with this email service. It can conceive and process a large amount of data easily. With the help of data modeling, the data can be saved with high-priority security and shared safely. It makes it compulsory for all its connections to use SSL and TSL for proper encryption. 

8. Egress

Egress started its operations in the year 2007. Its excellent encryption service has made it one of the top trusted encryption platforms. It provides a very easy and convenient encryption process which is completely different from other service providers. 

Key Features:

• It uses a fully flexible system of authentication. 
• It does not require authentication every time. Instead, it allows setting a unique address that can be sent to the recipient for one-time use. 
• It allows the users to set a password for the recipients to open the files or emails. 

Egress helps companies prevent security breaches as it offers complete audit records. Moreover, it comes in handy when a user wants to deny access to a sent mail. If you are looking for a service compatible with Office 365, Egress is the answer to your problems. One can send and receive several encrypted files without ever leaving their email inboxes on Office 365.

Conclusion

We have looked upon various platforms that provide encryption and protection of emails. By going through the features, pros, and cons of each one of them, users can choose according to their needs. This may help them to have a complete go-through of all the potential and popular email encryption services. 

Various factors should be considered before selecting any service. What are the security features, how easy is it to use, is it compatible with the system or not, etc. all these factors are the reasons that every individual or company must look into. After properly analyzing, these decisions can be made that suit the organization’s needs perfectly.