How do I send encrypted emails?

Scenarios for when you'll want to consider encrypting your email messages:

• You don't trust the recipient's email provider to be secure. 
• You don't want your message recipients to forward, print, or copy your email.
• You want to add a warning of internal confidential content to your email.
• You don't want your original message content to be edited or modified. 

How to encrypt an email

You can send encrypted emails from Outlook if you have the appropriate licenses and have Azure Multi-Factor Authentication set up.

From Outlook

1. Create a New Email.
2. Navigate to the Options tab, then click the Encrypt button (you can click the arrow beneath it for additional encryption permission options, detailed further down this page).
   

Encryption Permission Options

		Encryption Permission Options
		Do Not Forward	Encrypt	Internal - Confidential	Internal - Confidential View Only
Any Office attachments (.docx, .xlsx, etc.) will be encrypted, so if they are sent to anyone not included in the original message, those additional recipients will NOT be able to open those files. But for any other file (PDFs, images, etc.), the additional recipients should be able to open those up just fine.		x	x	x	x
Recipients from outside your organization...
	... can view the content of the original email.	x	x
	... can copy the content of the original email.		x
	... can modify the content of the original email.	x	x
	... can print the content of the original email.		x
	... can CC or forward the content to recipients not included in the original email.		x
Recipients from within your organization...
	... can view the content of the original email.	x	x	x	x (no one can reply)
	... can copy the content of the original email.		x
	... can modify the content of the original email.	x	x	x
	... can print the content of the original email.		x
	... can CC or forward the content to recipients not included in the original email.		x	x

What does it look like to receive an encrypted email?

In the example below, you can see what it looks like for a third party Gmail user to receive an encrypted email from Office365. 

When they receive the email, they need to click Read the message.

It will then ask them to authenticate.

Finally, they will be able to view the email and Reply, Reply All, or Forward (they will NOT be able to Forward if it is a Do Not Forward encrypted email).

Read further about the nuances of encrypted emails and attachments here >>