How to Send an Encrypted Email using TLS and Confidential Mode

Gmail has built-in encryption features we can utilize to securely send emails: TLS and Confidential Mode

TLS, or Transport Layer Security, is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. We have turned automatic TLS on for all emails. This means if you use “Confidential” in the subject line or if Google detects content like a SSN in your email, Google will verify the recipient supports TLS to encrypt the email before sending.  No extra steps are necessary for you to take for the email to automatically encrypt.

You can verify your email has been encrypted by clicking the arrow next to an email and looking for the “security:” field.

Additionally, the recipient of your email can make sure that you truly sent the TLS encrypted email. The recipient will receive the email into their Inbox and will have [Encrypted] in the subject of their email.

Confidential Mode is a feature within Gmail allowing you to provide some additional protections around content sent via email (for example, Recipients of the confidential message will have options to forward, copy, print, and download disabled). Unlike TLS, you will manually have to turn on Confidentiality Mode to send an email securely. You can follow the instructions on this page to send an email with using Confidential Mode.

If you have any questions about TLS or Confidential Mode, please refer to this FAQ page or email the Help Desk at helpdesk@arcadia.edu