There are several ways to securely communicate a message to internal and external recipients. By far the easiest method is to write your communications in Microsoft Word, and encrypt the word document and then email it (Office Button, Prepare, Encrypt Document). Then, communicate the password outside of email (text message, telephone, voicemail, etc.) This works for internal and external recipients and is quite simple. For other options, read on.
If you have a need to send sensitive information via email, GMail has a feature called Confidential Mode. This is available to everyone and gives the ability to send an email that expires at any time of your choosing, making the message inaccessible thereafter. SMS verification can also be added as a further protection. In addition the message cannot be forwarded, downloaded, or printed.
This feature works for both Holy Cross recipients as well as external ones as well with the same protection whether the recipient is using GMail or any other service.
Please note that attachment cannot be downloaded by the recipients, if it’s required to securely send an attached file please use the file transfer web application.
For detailed instructions on how to use GMail Confidentiality Mode click here.