The University's information security policies require Information Resources & Technology to scan all outgoing email for potentially sensitive information. To ensure the confidentiality of information sent via email, IRT uses Cisco Email Encryption.
- What Is Email Encryption?
- How Do I Send Secure Email?
- How Do I Read Encrypted Email?
- How Do I Read Encrypted Email on a Mobile Device?
- I Sent an Email That I Believe Was Incorrectly Encrypted. What Can I Do?
What Is Email Encryption?
Email encryption is a secure method of transmitting information that ensures the content of an email can only be read by the intended recipient.
The University uses Cisco email encryption to help protect the confidentiality and integrity of email sent to non-Rowan addresses and prevent confidential information from being stolen by unintended recipients.
Cisco Email Encryption works by:
- Identifying outbound email messages that match encryption policies
- Encrypting the email messages.
- Sending encrypted messages using Cisco Registered Envelope Service
Recipients of an encrypted message will receive an email with directions and a link to view the secure message. If the recipient does not retrieve the message before the expiration date, which is 14 days from the date the message was sent, the sender will receive an expiration notification message. The original message will then be deleted from the secure website.
How Do I Send Secure Email?
All outgoing email sent by Rowan University employees through their Exchange account is automatically scanned for ePHI and HIPAA related data. If any potentially sensitive content is found, the email will be automatically encrypted to external recipients.
Potentially sensitive data that will trigger encryption includes:
- Social Security Numbers
- Credit Card Numbers
- Medical Data
- Financial Data
There are two ways to manually send a secure email:
- Add "rowanencrypt" in lower case to the body of your email. (Trigger words "zixencrypt" or "zixsecure" used with our previous system will continue to work as well)
- In Outlook, click Options and then Security in a new message and select "Encrypt message"
How Do I Read an Encrypted Email?
First-time users will need to register with Cisco Registered Envelope Service before they can read an encrypted email.
The first time you receive an encrypted email notification, click REGISTER.
Fill out the New User Registration form and click Register.
Once you submit that form, you will receive an account activation message.
Open the account activation email and click the Click here to activate this account link.
You should then receive a confirmation email.
If you are sent an encrypted message, you will receive the following notification in your inbox.
Open the attachment and follow the prompts.
The sender will receive a confirmation of delivery once the message has been retrieved.
How Do I Read Encrypted Email on a Mobile Device?
Open the securedoc.html attachment in a web browser or follow this procedure:
- Open the secure message in your mail application.
- Tap "Forward" to send this message with attachment to mobile@res.cisco.com.
- You will receive an email from mobile@res.cisco.com with a link to the temporary stored message.
- Tap the link in the email.
- Select your email address from the "Your address" drop-down menu and then tap "Open."
- Enter your password in the "Password" field and then tap "Open."
- Open the secure message in the "Native Mail" application.
- Tap "Include" and then "Forward" to send this message with attachment to mobile@res.cisco.com.
- You will receive an email from mobile@res.cisco.com with a link to the temporary stored message.
- Tap the link in the email.
- Select your email address from the "Your address" drop-down menu and then tap "Open."
- Enter your password in the "Password" field and then tap "Open."
I Sent an Email That I Believe Was Incorrectly Encrypted. What Can I Do?
Once an email has been encrypted, there is no way to release the contents of the email without following the steps outlined above on reading encrypted email.
If you have any questions, please contact the Technology Support Center at 856-256-4400, or log in to support.rowan.edu and click Get Help.