E-mail Encryption For SMBs – Do You Need It?

Smallbiztechnology.com: E-mail Encryption For SMBs – Do You Need It?

If your small business shares confidential information about the company or your customers, or you’re in a regulated industry such as health care, encrypting e-mail makes sense, Intermedia says. Everybody else: not so much.

“Intermedia has been on my back telling me that businesses need to consider encrypting their email. I kept ignoring them, but finally decided to at least ASK, is encryption really that important? Take a look at this short Q&A from Intermedia’s COO Jonathan McCormick, you’ll probably learn something new, like I did.

So in essence what businesses have been doing for years is not good enough – having regular email on an email server?
Email from a reputable hosting provider, or in-house with the appropriate and constantly updated security and anti-spam tools, is sufficient in most cases. Encryption adds another layer of protection to your email, beyond what is on your or your providers’ servers. It makes the email virtually unreadable as it travels across the Internet, protecting sensitive information about you or your customers. Use it when regulations require it or when you are sending sensitive information – such as social security numbers, credit card number, account numbers, dates of birth, etc.”