Simply put, Encryption is the use of computing technology to make electronic data unreadable by anyone that does not have a password key.  Any confidential electronic data, including PHI (personal health information) and PII (personally identifiable information) must be encrypted when being transmitted.

Sending confidential information:

In general, individual files being shared with our any of our partners on the Approved Email Domain List does not require any extra encryption.  The UW email system is setup to automatically encrypt all email messages to these email domains. You do not need to do anything else.   (Click here for the current list of Accepted Email Domains).

If you are sending an email to a domain that is not listed below you can easily encrypt an email using Outlook on the web:

Navigate to Outlook by typing this URL in your browser: https://outlook.office.com
When you open a new message, at the top, there is a button that looks like this:

Simply click on that button and that message will be encrypted when you send it to the recipient.

For file encryption, look for this option when saving the document:

Be sure to fully encrypt the document.  save as using a modern file format e.g. – “.docx. “.  Be sure to send password for the document in a separate email or via phone.
Adobe PDF Encryption – > Once a document is saved as a PDF, you can use Adobe Acrobat or Reader to encrypt a file. You can find this option under Tools > Protect > Encrypt with Password.

Zip Files – if you are sending a large amount confidential data, typically over 10MB, zip files can be used for transmitting, though there are inherent risks, and some email servers are configured to deny zip attachments.  (For instructions on how to send zip files, click here).                                                                  E

Receiving confidential information:

If you are frequently receiving PHI from an outside facility that is not on the list of here are three possible options to help ensure they meet encryption standards:

• Contact and request they be added to the approved domain email list
• Have users send zip files with extra levels of encryption
• Send through OneDrive (the user will need to be set up with a sponsored NetID – contact I.T. for assistance).

Sharing with OneDrive: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/share-onedrive-files-and-folders-9fcc2f7d-de0c-4cec-93b0-a82024800c07#OS_Type=OneDrive_-_Business