Best Practices for Emailing PII Securely

Properly securing Personally Identifiable or Protected Health Information (PII/PHI) in email delivers critical benefits: regulatory compliance with data privacy regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, prevention of costly data breaches, enhanced customer trust, streamlined workflows, and comprehensive risk mitigation. These ten practices provide a framework for safely handling PII when email communication is necessary.

1. Verify necessity and minimize data

Only send PII via email when absolutely required, and include only the minimum information, aka data minimization, necessary for the specific purpose.

2. Implement end-to-end encryption

Use email solutions with strong end-to-end encryption rather than standard email to protect PII and other sensitive information from interception.

3. Encrypt attachments containing PII

Apply strong encryption (AES-256 for data at rest and TLS 1.3 for data in transit) to any attachments with PII and transmit passwords through separate channels.

4. Verify recipient identity and address

Double-check all email addresses before sending PII and avoid distribution lists or shared mailboxes for sensitive information. Also, utilize multi-factor authentication (MFT), requiring email recipients to authenticate themselves, to limit access to emails containing PII.

5. Deploy Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools

Implement automated DLP systems to detect and prevent unauthorized PII transmission through email channels.

6. Obtain explicit consent when required

Ensure and document that you have proper authorization to transmit the individual’s PII via email under applicable regulations.

7. Maintain robust audit logs

Utilize comprehensive audit logs to record all PII email transmissions including sender, recipient, timestamp, and security measures applied for regulatory compliance.

8. Conduct regular security awareness training

Educate employees through security awareness training about PII email risks, regulatory requirements, and proper secure transmission procedures.

9. Establish clear organizational policies

Create and enforce explicit protocols regarding approved methods for different categories of PII transmission.

10. Consider secure alternatives to email

Whenever possible, use purpose-built secure portals or encrypted file-sharing platforms instead of email for PII. This includes secure file sharing and secure file transfer solutions like SFTP and secure managed file transfer.

Learn More About Emailing PII Securely and in Compliance

To learn more about emailing personally identifiable information (PII) while maintaining regulatory compliance with data privacy regulations visit: How to Email PII Securely: Personally Identifiable Information Protection.

And to learn more about Kiteworks for secure email, be sure to check out Keep Your Business Communications Private With Secure Email.