Email encryption

If you want to protect the privacy of an email message, you can encrypt it. Encrypting an e-mail message in Outlook means converting the message from plain readable text into scrambled cipher text that only the sender and recipient(s) of the message can read.

Because email is encrypted for named users, you cannot send an encrypted email to a service address or a group.

Start writing a new message in a new window and 

• Select File
• Encrypt
• Encrypt only
• Enter the addresses, titles and write the message normally.
• You can add attachments, but note that permanent encryption only remains in the products of the Microsoft M365 product family and PDF files. Other attachments are encrypted until they reach the recipient.
• When your message is ready to be sent, press the Send key.

If the recipient is in our organisation and has access to the encryption features of the email, the message will open automatically. In the message list, the message shows the cryptographic symbol, a lock.

If you add an attachment from TUNI's M365 service to an e-mail, the e-mail only contains a link to the file, so before sending the message, give the recipient rights to the file.

When you open the message, you will see a text at the top telling you that the message is encrypted.

If the recipient is not in our TUNI.FI organisation, they will receive the message in their inbox informing them that they have received an encrypted email. (The appearance of the message is often copied by phishers and may easily appear to the recipient as a scam message. It is therefore advisable to agree with the recipient that they will receive an encrypted email to avoid any misunderstanding.)

When the recipient presses the Read Message button, a screen will pop up asking them to log in to M365 or, for example, Google, if the message was sent to a gmail address, or to request a one-time password to open the message.

A one-time password is an easy and efficient way to authenticate the recipient. The system sends it after the recipient's request as a separate message to the same email address as the encrypted message.

A one-time password is valid for 15 minutes. If it expires or does not work for any other reason, the recipient may always request a new password by pressing the button on the original web window.

When the recipient enters the numeric code in the field, the message opens.

IT Helpdesk
+358 294 520 500
it-helpdesk [at] tuni.fi (it-helpdesk[at]tuni[dot]fi)
helpdesk.tuni.fi