How do I send or receive an Encrypted Email Message?

When you want to send a secure message, all you need to do is use your regular email application and enter [encrypt] into the Subject field of your message.  

Important: You must include the square brackets and is not case sensitive

OR

Open a New Email > go to the Option tab > click the Encrypt button.

• The Encrypt button shows up as a lock in the Outlook web mail. 

Click the Proofpoint or Microsoft Purview Message Encryption attachment in the message to launch a browser to authenticate so that you can decrypt and read the message.

Note: If you see red X icons in the browser, your email client is blocking images. These images are typically the logo or images of the sender's organization. You can display the images or ignore them without affecting your ability to read the message.

• If you have not registered for Proofpoint Encryption, you will be prompted to create an account and choose a password on the Registration page. Click Continue when you are done. In the future, you will not be prompted to register.
• If you have already registered, or if your account already exits, you will be prompted to sign in and provide your password to decrypt the message. Click Continue.
• If you sign in, and the Login screen returns with a field that you can edit for your user name, it means Proofpoint Encryption found a record for you, but the email address is different - perhaps an email alias. Enter a different address to sign in. For example, a record for jsmith@example.com exists, but you entered joe@example.com - your alias for jsmith.
• If you receive Microsoft Purview Message Encryption, you will be prompted with a one-time passcode from Microsoft Office 365 Message Encryption or sign in with your email account provider

Forgot your password?

If Proofpoint Encryption is configured to allow you to reset your password, click the Forgot Password link. You will be prompted for your security question. Create a new password for your account.

Your ability to reply to or forward an encrypted message depends upon the sending organization's policies. If you do not see a Reply, Reply All or Forward link, it is because the sender of the message cannot allow recipients to reply to or forward the message.

When you reply to a message using Proofpoint, your reply will be sent securely.

Proofpoint Encryption does not automatically place a copy of a secure message in your Sent folder. Click Send me a copy when you forward or reply to a secure message so that a copy will be sent to your address for your records.

1. If you want to add an attachment to a message, click the Attach a file link
2. Navigate to the file you want to attach and then click the Add link
3. The name of the attached file displays in the dialog box
4. Click Upload when you are done adding attachments
5. To delete an attachment from a message, click the X link to the right of the attachment

Note: The (combined) attachments cannot exceed 15 MB in size

If your password expires before you have a chance to reset it, you will be prompted to reset your password the next time you try to compose or read a secure message.

Some Smart Phones cannot download files, and some Smart Phones modify HTML files. Since your secure message is sent to you as an HTML attachment, you may not be able to read it on your Smart Phone. If you have trouble reading your secure message, please find a computer to review the secure message.

This section describes error messages and what they mean.

• You authenticated successfully, but do not have permission to decrypt this message.
  You do not have permission to decrypt this message. Or, the administrator has disabled your ability to decrypt the message. Contact your email administrator.

• You authenticated successfully, but the decryption key for your message has been deleted.
  The decryption key for this message has expired or has been deleted. Contact your email administrator.

• There was a critical error in processing your request. There may be a problem with the system or your request.
  Proofpoint Encryption is temporarily unavailable. If this situation persists, contact your email administrator.

• The message you are trying to read is corrupted and cannot be processed. Please contact the sender of the message.
  The message is corrupted and cannot be decrypted. Contact the sender of the message.

• The page you requested was not found. If you clicked a link to get here, click the Back button in your browser to return to the previous page.
  The page you are trying to view in the browser is not available or does not exist. Click the Back button in your browser.

• The username you requested has already been registered.
  You have already authenticated with Proofpoint Encryption.

• There was an error retrieving the key for your message. If this error persists, please contact your administrator.
  The key server is temporarily unavailable. Try again later, and if you still cannot decrypt the message, contact your email administrator.

• Your account has been disabled.
  Your email administrator has disabled your account.

• Login Disabled
  You do not have permission to perform this action.

Other Issues

Error with Large HTML Secure Messages.

If your HTML message contains more than 500 KB of content, you may encounter a "Large Message Warning" error message. This limitation applies to Firefox 3.X or Internet Explorer browsers when you reply to the message or forward it. This limitation does not apply to plain text.

Intermittent Problem with Replying to or Forwarding Secure Messages

If Proofpoint Encryption hangs when you try to compose a message and click the Reply, Reply All, or Forward links, click Cancel and try again. If the original text of the secure message does not display in the browser, refresh the browser or close the browser and open it again. The behavior is infrequent, intermittent, and typically works the second time around.