2018 HIPAA Compliant Email Encryption Review

When working with HIPAA compliance for the Protected Health Information (PHI) you are sure of your responsibilities to comply with the rules. HIPAA security policies make it a compulsion for the Covered Entities, Business Associates and Business Associates Subcontractors to safeguard the PHI when they store, come in contact with at rest, storage, and transit. With the evolvement of technology protection of PHI has become crucial. Email encryption is just a way to protect the information and organization.

There are many email encryption services that assure the security and privacy of your account. HIPAA security compliance as per law does not specify the need for compliance but after a detailed Risk Assessment, you will agree to the importance of email encryption for the safety of information. The add-on advantage that it presents in case of wrong delivery of information through email.

Encrypted information that does not has password or keys with it cannot be used by the third party so there is no breach of the agreement. As a business owner, the presence of HIPAA compliant email encryption services renders with a sense of security when dealing with protected information.

Any encryption service can be purchased depending on the price, integration capability and the strength of protection. The top encryption services are as follows:

1] Virtu: It is an affordable program and requires nominal effort for its set up and integrates with almost all the email provider. In just some minutes the program gets set and the first encrypted mail can be sent across. It is user-friendly as verification codes are not required, rather for extra security the recipients need to verify the identity by signing with email client account login. It is a one-click encryption service and an end to end encryption is there. The drawback is that mobile devices are required to view encrypted emails. Another drawback is that it does not integrate with apple mail.

2] Protected trust: It has a web-based access feature that makes it easy to set up. Once the recipient of the email is registered with Protect Trust they need to verify the identity but not purchase the program. There are a number of verification options for the recipient. The options could be shared secret codes, account numbers with your company or verification from the phone through texts or calls. However, it does not transfer your contacts from the person or company email. It works with any web browser but does not work with apple mail. It features multiple verification methods thus utmost security is assured.

3] LuxSci- It is a program to suit the needs of encryption with many options and features. It is a highly compatible and capable program. It has simple integration process to add it to your existing desktop. It is highly technical with the great list of add-on features. However, a great deal of set up work is required at the back end.

HIPAA training for email encryption is required for the safe and secure transmission of emails.