How are emails encrypted?

Email encryption is an email security process designed to prevent hackers and other unauthorized parties from reading the contents of emails you send by converting the message into an incomprehensible format. Encrypted emails can only be decrypted at the ends of the desired recipients.

Email is the backbone of corporate communication, which means that a lot of confidential and sensitive company information, as well as personal data, is exchanged through email on a daily basis. Data leakage is a common threat that clogs up emails and leads to devastating leaks of corporate data, files, financial information, and even employee information. This makes email encryption an effective method of protecting email data.

Email encryption is supported by most major mailbox providers. For example, Gmail only sends and receives encrypted emails if another email provider supports TLS encryption.

How are emails encrypted?

Email encryption can occur using several encryption methods and protocols. The process can be automated, in which all outgoing email traffic is encrypted, or manual, in which only certain emails containing sensitive information or personally identifiable information (PII) are encrypted.

Email encryption can be simplified by installing encryption software on your device, but recently, cloud hosting solutions and platforms have emerged that make it easier to encrypt emails without having to install any applications on your operating system or device.