As you have no doubt read about in recent months the world of cyber security has repeatedly shown that electronic communications are subject to breaches and to hackers. Because we are fiduciary’s and take the protection of our clients’ confidential data extremely seriously, we have for some years been using an encrypted and secured file transfer portal, ShareFile, to transmit sensitive data.
However, we have decided to add to this protective technology by implementing an email encryption solution provided by ZixCorp to further protect your personal and confidential information, as we are concerned that regular email is not a secure method for sensitive communication. We selected ZixCorp because they provide email encryption services to many national banking and securities firms and are very highly rated. Effective immediately, all email attachments sent from our office, if not sent via our secured ShareFile portal, will be automatically encrypted. Please note that this email encryption solution is not to replace our existing secured ShareFile portal, but be in addition. We will continue sending your sensitive information via our secured ShareFile portal and we want you to continue using the secured link at https://fbco.sharefile.com to send documents to us. This email encryption solution is to ensure that all documents sent from our office are encrypted even if not sent via ShareFile. In addition, if the body of any email message contains any financial account information or tax identification numbers, the email will also be sent only after being encrypted.
Encrypted emails are received just like any other email. However, to view the message or open the attachment, you will need to sign in to our secured Message Center with your email address as detailed below. In addition, a few reminders to note:
- The encrypted message is sent from our secured Message Center and bears a header indicating ‘New ZixCorp secure email message from Fishman, Block + Diamond’. Please do not reply directly to this Message Center notification email. If you do, the reply is discarded and cannot be recovered. Instead, please sign in to our secured Message Center and reply and correspond with us from within.
- In general, you will only need to register once unless you change your email address. However, you might need to re-register as the system will remove any inactive accounts after 180 days.
- You can download, save, or print the encrypted message and attachments from within the Message Center. However, to forward the attachment, you will need to download and save it in a secure location first.
- The secure message will expire after two weeks due to security concerns. If you need to view or download it after it expires, please contact us as expired messages will not be accessible.
Encrypted emails are received like any other email with a slightly different look as shown below. Please note the expiration date indicated in the notification. To access the message and attachment, please click on ‘Open Message’.
You will be taken to our secured Message Center to register your email address and a password of your choice. If you have not registered with our Message Center before, please click on the ‘New to secure email?’ box in the lower center to begin the process. If you have already registered, you may enter your password, click on ‘Sign In’, and view the message and attachment.
When creating a password for the first time, please note the password rules detailed on the screen below. Once completed, click on ‘Register’ and you will be able to view the message and download documents.
While this does add a level of complexity and inconvenience to the process of opening, reading, and responding to our emails, we hope that you agree it is for your benefit, and you will find this email encryption solution easy to use as we strive to safeguard your privacy and sensitive personal information. If you have any questions, comments, or need assistance signing in to our secured Message Center, please do not hesitate to contact us.
