Fall 2009
Email Encryption to Protect Plan Information
The Standard has a new tool that assures that any email messages containing participants’ personal information are secure. The Standard can now encrypt email messages to help protect personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers and account numbers.
Encryption of email messages containing personally identifiable information is often contractually required, as well as required by law in several states. With identity theft and online fraud becoming more commonplace, security measures are increasingly important. Encryption sends an email that is unreadable to anyone lacking the proper credentials to access the message. This means that if the email is intercepted en route, the message remains unreadable.
When you receive an encrypted email message from The Standard, it will look a little different and will require you to take a few steps to retrieve the message. You will receive an email notifying you of the arrival of an encrypted message. The email and its attachment will walk you through the retrieval process. You should not notice any difference in the email’s delivery times and no special software is necessary to decrypt it.
Before you retrieve an encrypted email message for the first time, you will need to establish a username and password to access the email message. Not all email messages from The Standard will be encrypted; only messages that contain your participants' personal information.
Please contact your account manager if you have any questions about email encryption.
