Email is the most efficient and economical method to exchange information. It’s an instant alternative to traffic jams, postal delays, interruptions to fax machines, and busy phone lines. However, when it comes to exchanging confidential documents, the ease of email hides several inherent risks. Once your confidential data what is a due diligence data room leaves your server, there is no way to know the destination or who has access to it. Even if encryption is enabled on your emails, which adds an additional layer of security, this may not be enough to shield you from the kind of man-in the-middle attacks.

Cybercriminals may use confidential information from customer documents to commit identity theft or other illegal activities. Cyberattacks on email servers could cause the destruction or theft of documents.

The good news is that, using best practices and a receptive NDA, it’s possible to safely exchange confidential documents through email. Limiting the number of identifiable objects included in an email including password-protected attachments as well as adding a confidentiality statement automatically in your signature are simple methods to improve security of emails.

For greater security email providers such as Gmail and Outlook are now offering S/MIME email encryption that enables users to digitally sign their attachments and emails, which ensures the integrity of the document as well as protecting it from « man in the middle » attacks. This solution requires that a verified certificate is installed on the computer of the recipient, which could provide additional security.