With the Unipass Mailock Outlook Add-In installed your ribbon layout will look a little different; you will have a new ‘Compose New Secure Email’ button and a ‘Unipass Mailock’ Tab.
Sending a secure mail
If you click on ‘Compose New Secure Email’, or ‘New Email’ you will have the same pop out window. The only difference is the Unipass Mailock logo in the top left:
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If the button is blue the email IS secure. |
If the button is showing red the email IS NOT secure. |
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Clicking the button, any time before you send, toggles your message between secure and unsecure.
If you try to send an unsecured email the add-in checks for words in the message that may suggest it should be sent securely. If any are found the following will be shown:
This highlights the words it found and gives you the option to send the message securely.
Setting a challenge question
A key step in securing your message is adding a challenge question and answer. This verifies the recipient’s identity and as such should be something known to just you and your recipient. Using information which is easily available through other sources such as social media, or general knowledge questions such as ‘What day of the week is it?’ weaken the security of your message.
Why is this step necessary? Imagine someone has access to your recipient’s mailbox – this extra step ensures they will still not be able to read your secure message.
When you send your message using Unipass Mailock the following screen is shown:
Once a registered recipient has successfully answered the challenge question they are added to your secure community of verified recipients. This means the challenge is no longer needed on future messages, but you always have the option if you want to increase the security level of an email. You will always require a challenge when sending a secure message to unregistered users as they don’t have a confirmed account to add to your community. For this reason, it’s worth asking your recipients to sign up for a free account if you plan on sending them more than a few emails. This will also let them reply securely to your message.
| If you use the reading pane in Outlook, which shows a preview of your emails, and you receive a secure message don’t click on the ‘Read my message’ link you’ll see in the preview window. Instead, double click on the message to open it and Unipass Mailock will automatically decrypt it for you. |
Message tracking
You can also track the message you’ve sent using Unipass Mailock. Go to your Sent Items in Outlook and open the message in a new window by double-clicking it. The Unipass Mailock button will confirm whether or not the email was sent encrypted.
Choosing ‘Show access details’ displays tracking details such as if/when the email was opened and if any attachments have been opened:
If the ‘Revoked’ box is ticked, then the recipient will not be able to read the message. This happens automatically if they answer the security challenge incorrectly 5 times or can be manually set by you by clicking the box (e.g. if you sent the message by mistake). If the box is empty, as above, the recipient can read the message as normal. You can revoke or make a message unrevoked at any time, even after it has been read.