3 min read

Paubox Email Suite - what is it?

Picture of Hoala Greevy Hoala Greevy September 17, 2014

Paubox news

If you've been following our blog, you'll know that we take pride in developing software based on customer feedback. Our customers tell us one of the biggest problems they face is encrypted email.

Encrypted email technology has been around for about 15 years but there wasn't a clear market leader in the space until Paubox. Existing solutions use the following logic for email encryption: By default, outgoing email is arbitrarily encrypted and if you want to make sure encryption is used, special action must be taken. What we mean by that is that special steps, or friction, are required in order to send encrypted email in today's market. Whether it's logging in to a custom portal, installing a third party button in Outlook, typing in a keyword in the subject line, or remembering to download and use a custom app on your smartphone, we believe it's precisely this friction that has stunted widespread adoption of email encryption.

Encrypted Email: There must be a better way

As you are probably aware, the SMTP protocol is one of the oldest Internet protocols in existence. It is a protocol that places an emphasis on message delivery but not message encryption. So we decided to sit, do some deep thinking, and see if we could come up with a better approach to encrypted email. I'm happy to say that thanks to feedback from our customers, we believe we've found a unique solution to encrypted email. What if I told you we took a completely different approach to encrypted email, an approach that seamlessly encrypts all email by default, regardless of content? In this day and age, wouldn't you agree that all email should be encrypted?

Paubox Email Suite: How does it work?

A simple way to think about the process is Paubox acts as a concierge for your email. Our encryption service sits on your email server and touches each email as you send it. The result? ALL of your outbound email goes through our email encryption service, which enforces either 128-bit or 256-bit AES transit layer encryption on all of your email, from every device, and every user. What could be better than that? That little Paubox concierge sitting on your server will also guarantee EVERY EMAIL IS DELIVERED ENCRYPTED!

How can every email be delivered encrypted?

Using our unique approach to encrypted email, one of two things will happen on the recipient's end:

1) If the recipient's email server is setup to handle encryption, the email will be encrypted seamlessly in the background. At the bottom of the email, there will be a footer reassuring the recipient the email was encrypted by Paubox.

2) If the recipient's email server is not setup to handle encryption, we convert the email into an encrypted message and store securely in Paubox. The recipient gets a plain text email notifying them they have an encrypted message to pickup. Clicking 'view message' takes them to our secure Paubox portal which enforces 256-bit HTTPS encryption. The recipient is free to read the message without logging in. Based on customer feedback, we took special measures to make this process as painless as possible.

Is Paubox HIPAA Compliant?

Our approach is deemed as a HIPAA best practice by our legal counsel and we have passed a rigorous review by a third-party HIPAA compliance consultancy. Since we seamlessly encrypt your email from end-to-end, our service does not allow email to be transmitted in clear text. We also encrypt our disk drives that may contain protected health information (PHI) of our customers. We are also willing to sign Business Associate Agreements with covered entities, which is required by law when HIPAA entities entrust vendors with PHI.

Do I have to install any software?

NO! You don't have to install any software or download any apps to take advantage of Paubox Email Suite. Continue sending and receiving email the same way you are accustomed to. We handle all the encryption in the background.

Do I have to buy any hardware?

NO! Paubox Email Suite is based in our secure cloud platform. You don't need to buy, configure or maintain any hardware to take advantage of our service.