Secure Email Message Delivery
The Information Security Services has implemented a Secure Message Delivery platform to give users the option to send emails to people outside of the URI environment in a secure manner.
What is Secure Message Delivery?
Secure email provides a way to send messages using a secure message portal that may contain sensitive and/or private data to people outside of URI (recipient addresses other than @uri.edu or @etal.uri.edu).
When should You use Secure Mail?
While it is a good rule of thumb to avoid using email to send sensitive or private information if possible, if you need to provide the information to a person outside of URI, secure mail provides you with a supported option.
Before using email to share sensitive and/or private information, it’s always important to consider government and industry laws and regulations, University and local policies, guidelines and practices. Use of URI’s secure email platform is intended to address the need for communicating high risk/confidential data (i.e. PHI) in a secure manner and in compliance with most regulatory requirements. It can be used to secure sensitive information including, but not limited to, personal identifiable information (PII), financial data, HIPAA protected data, or student information.
You are required to use secure email whenever you send a message that contains sensitive information such as PHI or PII to a recipient outside of URI (i.e., to addresses other than @uri.edu or @etal.uri.edu).
You will want to remember that using email for any information has some risks. If your email account is compromised, it can be used to access messages previously sent securely. Be careful to verify who will receive the email when composing messages. It’s easy to send to a wrong email address or a wrong person.
How do I send a secure message?
The secure message delivery service is available to Faculty and Staff with limited availability for student use. You can request access to the secure message delivery service using the request form below.
Request Secure Message Delivery — SSO Required
Once your account is configured, using secure email is pretty simple to do. When composing your email message, just add the word confidential to the subject line. Messages that contain the word confidential in the subject line routes your message to a secure environment and delivers retrieval instructions to the recipient.
** NOTE: The subject line of the email is not encrypted; therefore, you should not include sensitive information in subject line of the email.
To send a secure email message:
- Place the word “confidential” in the Subject line.
- Complete the email body as usual and click Send.
The recipient will receive a message that looks like the following:You may wish to notify your recipient in advance that they will need to create an account to retrieve the message. Following best practices, the recipient should verify the link in the message. The secure message portal and all links are hosted at the domain securemail.uri.edu.
Note: If the recipient sees red or blue X icons in their browser, their email client is blocking images. These images are just the URI logo and the encrypted email symbol. They can display the images or ignore them without affecting their ability to read the message.
If the recipient of your message doesn’t receive your message, tell them to check their Spam or Junk folder.
How do I Receive secure messages?
The secure message portal allows external participants to send messages to URI participants securely. The secure portal allows external participants, vendors, or guests to create an account using their external email address (one that does not end in uri.edu).
After registration, the external party can use their portal account to send secure messages as well as receive replies to those messages. The secure message portal is ideal to send or receive documents that should not otherwise be transmitted without encryption.
Secure Message Portal
https://securemail.uri.edu/encrypt
Portal Account Maintenance
External parties that only occasionally use this service may need account assistance. Please email security@uri.edu for assistance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can users who need to communicate securely outside URI initiate secure messages to me?
Yes, third parties can initiate an encrypted communication using URI’s secure email system. Instruct them to visit https://securemail.uri.edu/encrypt and follow the instructions for registering an account.
What will happen if I attempt to encrypt an email to someone with a URI email address?
Email sent within the URI email system is secure, therefore, email sent with confidential in the subject line to someone with an @uri.edu or @etal.uri.edu address will not be encrypted using the Proofpoint secure email system and will be sent just like any other email. Only email sent to a recipient outside of URI (i.e., to addresses other than @uri.edu or @etal.uri.edu) will be encrypted.
Can I send attachments using the secure message tool?
Yes, the total size of attachments you send must not exceed 15 megabytes.
How long does a recipient have to retrieve the message?
After two weeks, the server that stores the message archives the message. The recipient can still read the message but it has to be downloaded as an attachment.
Can the message be read on a smartphone?
Mostly-yes. However, some smartphones cannot download files or modify HTML files. The secure message is sent through a web portal, so it is possible that your recipient may not be able to read it on their smartphone.