In today’s digital age, almost everything is associated with online platforms. Now a major part of our business is run online. So emails remain a primary mode of communication there. Thereby, it also presents a potential security risk. We know that cybercriminals are constantly looking for vulnerabilities, and our personal or business-related emails are the valuable targets. If your email contains sensitive information, you must encrypt and secure it in MS Outlook to prevent unauthorized access. Microsoft Outlook offers a very strong encryption feature that allows us to protect our emails and ensures that they can only be accessible by the intended recipient. Today in this tutorial content, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of how to encrypt and secure your emails in MS Outlook.
How to Use the Search Function in MS Outlook Effectively.
Why do you need to encrypt your emails?
Encrypting your important emails safeguards sensitive information from unauthorized access and cyber threats. Whether you are sharing personal details, confidential business communication, or financial data, encryption ensures that the email is shared with only the intended receiver. Nowadays, hacking, phishing, and data breaches have become very common. So there is always a risk that your private information will get exposed if you keep it insecure. Encryption of your emails adds an extra layer of security and it converts your emails into some unreadable code for anyone without the correct description key. It does not only protect your privacy, but also you can maintain trust in professional communications by ensuring that sensitive and confidential data are shared in a secure transit.
How many types of encryption are there in Outlook?
Before you start the main procedure of encrypting your emails, it is very important to know how many types of encryption are there in Outlook. It will help you to understand which type is better for you. Microsoft Outlook provides two types of encryption of emails. S/MIME is one of the most popular and best methods for encrypting emails. But it requires both the sender and the receiver to have a certificate order digital ID. Normally it is primarily used in organizations that have a higher level of secure communication system. So without a digital ID, you cannot use this method of encryption. The Other type of encrypting emails in Outlook is using Office 365 message encryption or the OME method. This type of encryption is available to all the users of Office 365 subscriptions. In this case, the subscribers do not need any kind of ID or certificate.
How to Get a Digital ID or Certificate (for S/MIME)
Well, if you want to use the S/MIME encryption method, you must have a Digital Certificate. Here is how you can obtain a digital ID and install the certificate in your Outlook.
Obtain a Digital ID
This is an electronic certificate that will be used to prove your identity. You can easily get this from a third-party provider like VeriSign or Comodo. After getting a digital certificate, you have to use and install it on your Microsoft Outlook application. So let’s get an overview on how you can install the certificate in Outlook.
Installing the certificate in Outlook
Once you have the digital certificate, it is very easy to install on your Outlook account.
- First, open the Outlook application.
- Go to File. You will get it at the top left corner of the window.
- Now select Options from the list.
- After that, you from the Outlook options window. You will see an option named Trust Center. Click on it to open the Trust Center settings.
- Now in the Trust Center settings, you have to select Email security, and then at the middle of the screen, you will see options to import your digital IDs or certificates.
- Click on Import/Export, and then you will be allowed to browse through and import the digital certificate from your PC received from the provider.
- In this case, after uploading the digital certificates, you have to set a strong password for it. After setting all, just click OK to continue.
How do set up Email Encryption in Outlook?
After successfully installing the certificate on your Outlook, you have to now configure Outlook to encrypt your desired emails. To do this, follow the steps below:
- Open your Outlook and go to the File tab.
- Now click on Options and then select the Trust Center. You can have it from the left sidebar.
- Click on Trust Center Settings and then select Email Security.
- From there, you have to enable the S/MIME or OME options to start encrypting your emails.
- For S/MIME encryption, under Encrypted email, all you need is just to put a checkmark on the box that says Encrypt contents and attachments for outgoing messages.
- And for Office 365 Encryption, or OMR, you need to choose the Encrypt button from the toolbar while composing your email. From there, you can select different levels of encryption, like Do Not Forward or Encrypt-Only.
How do I send an encrypted email in Outlook?
Once you set encryption in your Outlook, it is very easy to add encryption to your emails. Just compose the email as usual. After that, to encrypt an email, first you need to decide what encryption method you are going to use. As I mentioned earlier, there are two types of encryptions in Outlook. One is the S/MIME method, and the other is the OME method.
- To encrypt an email using the S/MIME method, after composing your message, go to the Options tab and then click Encrypt. But before that, you must ensure that both the sender and the receiver have a digital certificate installed to decrypt and read the email.
- If you want to use the Office 365 Encryption or OME, then choose the Encrypt button from the toolbar while composing your message. You can choose Do Not Forward or Encrypt only based on your choice.
- Finally, after applying the encryption type, you just need to hit the send button. In this case, the recipient will receive the email in an encrypted format. The user needs to use a valid digital certificate and authorized permission to access the content of the sent email.
How do I decrypt an encrypted email?
The recipients of the sent email need to have a valid digital certificate installed in their Outlook. After receiving the email, the user does not need to do anything in the case of the S/MIME encryption method. If the user is permitted, it will automatically be decrypted for the authorized receiver. In the case of OME encryption, if the user uses the Office 365 Outlook application, he or she can easily decrypt the email. For those who do not use Outlook, in that case, they will get a secure web link to access the content of the emails.
This is all for today’s tutorial on how to secure and encrypt emails in MS Outlook. I have tried my best to make you understand all the aspects of encryption and decryption of emails in Outlook. Furthermore, if you have any kind of query, you can surely reach out to us. We will be glad to answer all your doubts. I hope that if you follow all the steps mentioned today, you will be able to add an extra layer of security and protection to your digital world. Thank you very much. Stay secure, stay smart!