Email is utilized by billions of people across the globe to communicate. Email is not always the best option when it comes to send confidential documents. With cyber and data security breaches on the rise, and data breach threats on the rise, it’s important to know how to safely transmit sensitive information via email.

In the majority of instances, it’s not a good practice to send confidential information as an email attachment or message that is not encrypted. This includes personal information like social security numbers, passport information and bank account information, as well as business-related confidential documents. If you are required to send confidential data in an email there are a few actions you can take to protect both yourself and the recipient.

The inclusion of a disclaimer is a way to warn recipients about the potential dangers that could be involved. These disclaimers aren’t legally binding and serve only to make clear the fact that the email is private.

You can also opt for an email encryption service. This is more efficient and requires you and your recipient to have systems that allow this (e.g. S/MIME or PGP). You can also use programs which compress files before sending them. This can help reduce the size of the Home Page file and make it harder for hackers to hack into your communications. Alternatively, you can secure the document with a password and make it impossible to open without the password.

Setting a time limit on the password will ensure that the user can only access the document within a certain period of time. Enabling two-factor authentication in your email system can increase security for emails used by businesses.