Today’s work environments include employees distributed across home and office networks, so it is important to know how to send documents securely over the internet while keeping company data safe.
Whether you work from home, at the office, or a hybrid of the two, you likely share passwords and other sensitive data with colleagues and other business contacts to collaborate on projects and get your job done as efficiently as possible.
However, as discovered in a recent survey, sometimes we use unsecure methods such as paper, email, and messaging apps to share company passwords. While these methods offer convenience and speed, they also risk exposing login credentials and other data to third parties.
The good news is you can use your password manager to share passwords and other sensitive data securely without sacrificing efficiency, convenience, or speed, and providing a secure way to send documents.
Here’s how you can become an expert at secure information sharing in the workplace and a cybersecurity leader in the eyes of your employer and IT team.
Encrypted information sharing lets you securely send documents, login credentials, and other sensitive data over the internet, other external networks, or remote servers. When you transmit encrypted information to another person (e.g., plaintext files or file attachments), the files are encrypted on creation and can only be decrypted by the recipient. This process has the benefits of:
Protecting files during transmission from man-in-the-middle interventions
Avoiding sensitive data being forever accessible in third-party systems
Enabling secure digital collaboration without adding unnecessary friction
Encrypted information sharing has multiple use cases to prevent exposing login credentials and other sensitive data when using less secure communication methods. One example is sharing one-time login credentials with a vendor to provide access to software programs such as a billing system.
Other use cases for encrypted information sharing include:
Giving a team member corporate credit card information to make a high amount purchase they can’t easily get reimbursed (e.g., paying for a training program)
Emailing sensitive HR documents to a new team member who might not have access to the corporate network yet
Sharing login credentials with someone in another department who typically doesn’t use that system (e.g., if the finance team needs access to download invoices or add new payment information)
Sending sensitive files or documents that include personally identifiable information (e.g., a list of event attendees and their payment details)