Are Office 365 emails encrypted?

As technology progresses and hackers find new, creative ways to steal your information, new security options continue to grow, too. Without security, the internet would be chaotic, and everyone would have their identity stolen. It’s crucial that you take security precautions to protect your information.

Office 365 is used by millions of people every day, and it offers many different applications and benefits that not everyone is aware of. When it comes to security, Microsoft takes extra precautions, giving different options to choose from. That’s where email encryption comes into play.

What is email encryption?

Email encryption is disguising email messages’ content to protect sensitive information from being read by anyone else.

Emails can be vulnerable when sent over an unsecured or public network. Encryption makes the content of emails unreadable. As the email travels from origin to destination, it can be intercepted, but if the email is encrypted, the interceptor won’t be able to interpret the content.

Office 365 encryption options

Office 365 offers two types of encryption options:

• S/MIME: the sender and recipient both must have a mail application that supports the S/MIME standard.
• Microsoft 365 Message Encryption (IRM): the sender must have this option. It is included in the Office 365 Enterprise E3 license.

The steps to use them vary with which one you decide to use. If you need the steps, you can find them on the Microsoft website.

Emails on Office 365 can absolutely be encrypted, just not automatically. Microsoft offers two different options to help protect the sensitive information within emails from being readable and stolen. Taking extra precautions to protect your data can only help.