In accordance with ISO/IEC 27002:2005(E), Exchange of Information - ยง 10.8, the VCCS (Virginia Community College System) is mandating that all community colleges adhere to the standard of encrypting all documents classified as Sensitive or Confidential before they are transmitted through any email system.
You may be asking yourself, "What does the term encryption mean?" Encryption is the process of converting the contents of a file into a form that is unreadable. This means that the only way that the contents can be read is if a person has the proper key or password to decode the encrypted data. Encryption provides a level of protection to keep documents safe from individuals who do not have authorization to access the data. To further ensure that the data is protected, encryption should be used both in-transit (when it is being sent to someone) and at rest (when it is stored on a particular device or within an application).
Because we work with sensitive or confidential information, including birth dates, addresses, student ID numbers, and social security numbers, it is our responsibility to keep this information as safe as possible.
To encrypt messages in the Outlook mail client (both the 2016 desktop client or the Office 365 Internet application):
- Compose a new message and insert any file attachments as necessary.
- In the subject line, type [Encrypt]: and then a descriptive title for the message in the subject line.
Warning: It is important to verify that the word Encrypt is placed between two brackets [ ]. This is the correct syntax to force Outlook to convert the message from plain text to being encrypted.
- Click Send to deliver the encrypted message to your intended recipients.
- When the recipients receive the email, they will see a Message.html attachment that they will need to download and open. The attachment will contain the entire contents of the message.
This is the actual file that you will download to view the encrypted message contents.
- After the attachment is opened, the recipients will be forced to either sign in or request a one-time passcode.
Note: If the recipients request a one-time passcode, a separate email will be sent with the passcode. The passcode will expire after 15 minutes.
- Once the recipients have signed in or entered the correct passcode, the contents of the message will be visible. Any replies or forwarding of the message will also be encrypted.