What happens to an email message after you lovingly craft it and hit Send?
If you’re picturing a little envelope shooting through the air from your computer and landing safely in the inbox of your friend or colleague, you may be in for a rude awakening,
The reality involves plenty of hardware and software, each with its own vulnerabilities that potential criminals can (and do) exploit to steal valuable data.
Although emailing sensitive files isn’t a guaranteed invitation for disaster, there are definitely more secure and convenient alternatives that you can try.
Let’s talk about exactly what happens when you send files over email, and other options to digitally share files instead.
Email Security 101
There are lots of ways for hackers to gain access to your valuable personal information after you send it in an email.
Perhaps the most straightforward way for them to do it is to steal your login credentials.
You’ve probably heard of data breaches where hackers have stolen account passwords from company databases, for example.
Hackers can also try to use software that can help them guess passwords. They may even try to get you to volunteer your own passwords by sending sketchy links that parade as legitimate requests for login information (these are called Phishing scams). If you’re running outdated software or hardware, hackers can infect your computer with malware that gives them easy access to your digital assets.
Of course, you can do your best protect your own email account and personal data by:
- avoiding suspicious links, exercising a very healthy level of skepticism at all times
- using strong passwords and using different passwords for different accounts
- keeping your hardware and software updated to eliminate vulnerabilities
- keeping a close eye on your computers, and making sure they’re password protected (sometimes, stealing personal information is as easy as sitting down in front of an unlocked computer at an empty desk).
The problem is that no matter how diligent you are about your own email security, you can never guarantee that the email recipient will take the same steps. And if you’re sending a sensitive file to a company, such as an accounting or legal firm, the email might get forwarded around to various employees, left to hang out in various inboxes, or downloaded to multiple servers—all of which have their own potential for security breaches.
But that’s not all. In many cases, hackers don’t even need to get access to your account or your computer to steal personal information that’s sent via email. Instead, they can try to gain access by way of one of the servers that your messages bounce back and forth between on their way to the recipient.
Using a secure HTTPS connection (or making sure that you’re using a program like Gmail that uses HTTPS) generally makes it impossible for anyone to see your data as it’s being transferred. There’s a catch, though: security is only garunteed if both the sender and the recipient are using it.
Plus, it’s worth mentioning that anyone who is sharing the receiver’s internet connection at the time the file is sent will be able to see the file, too, if it’s unencrypted. This is why you’ve probably heard that it’s a bad idea to send and receive sensitive files over Public WiFi connections, like those in a coffee shop. It’s also why you need to make sure that your home network is encrypted.
The Risk of Breaches
Maybe it’s a little hard to believe that these these criminals would actually bother trying to come after your email, out of all of the emails in the world. Don’t hackers actually focus their energies on the big companies that have loads of data to steal?
Unfortunately, the answer is no.
Although those big hacks are the ones that tend to make the headlines, that doesn’t necessarily mean that large companies are the only ones being targeted. Savvy criminals may rightly assume that small business owners can’t exactly spend the huge money on security that bigger companies can, and that makes small businesses ideal targets.
Personal computers aren’t safe, either. The use of malware—and ransomware, in particular—has continued to rise over the years for pretty much everyone. With these data breach incidents soaring, good attention to security is only becoming more important.
Alternatives to Email
Maybe at this point you’ve realized using email to send your sensitive personal or financial information is a bad idea.
But what are you supposed to do instead? Hop on your horse and buggy and deliver the papers by hand?
In fact, some people still do opt for snail mail and even fax (!!) to send sensitive files.
These paper files may indeed be more secure than email while they’re moving from one place to the next. However, don’t be fooled: Transferring your digital info to paper doesn’t guarantee its security. Click To Tweet
Hard copies of sensitive files can be left lying around visible on someone’s desk, for example, or just hanging out in the trash can. In some offices, any paper files will simply be digitized by staff and exposed to the same security threats that other digital files face.
Plus, paper-reliant options are slower, and they come along with plenty of equipment-related headaches (odds are that your recipient doesn’t even have a working fax machine anymore).
Thankfully, you can still send your files digitally while keeping them secure.
Alternative: Use a Cloud Storage Solution
The main security benefit of programs like Dropbox and Google Drive is the guarantee of a secure connection. Unlike email, you can know that the files will be both sent and received with the security of HTTPS.
These cloud-based file sharing programs also allow more control over who has access to the files once they’re sent, thanks to user permissions levels and sophisticated ways of authenticating who is logging in.
Finally, because these cloud-based solutions have hundreds of people on staff working to keep their data secure, there’s less of a chance of a breach due to someone neglecting to update their hardware, software, and firewalls (which is exactly the kind of thing that happens in typical small office environments).
The biggest downside to using shared cloud storage program is that you will have to create an account with the same program your recipient uses in order to share your files. Creating a bunch of new accounts to send files and keeping track of the logins for those accounts can be a huge hassle.
Alternative: Use a File Sharing App
Perhaps the best solution for securely sharing files is to use an app that was specifically developed for that purpose.
These apps are similar to cloud-based file storage solutions, but with several more helpful features. Specifically, they make it super easy for users to share files without creating an account. They also connect with a variety of common cloud-storage apps to make it easier for recipients to organize the files the way they like.
Fileinbox screenshot
The best file sharing apps, such as Fileinbox, allow recipients to publish a user-friendly, on-brand, and fully encrypted page where senders can simply drag and drop their sensitive files. There are no hoops to jump through, and everything is totally secure.
If you want to try it for yourself, sign up for a free, 7-day trial. Fileinbox also offers a money-back guarantee if you’re not completely happy. Click here to get started.