ChrisH said:
We have a "Secure Delivery" button within Outlook so that when we send
private information to someone outside our company, it is sent
securely. It may be the public key encryption that you refer to, but
I'm not sure. Can you explain public key encyrption and tell me
whether I can use this feature in a rule to automatically forward
emails to a vendor?
Outlook has no "Secure Delivery" button natively. Perhaps you have some
kind of add-in, like Biscom's FileMarshal
(
http://biscom.com/NEWSLETTER/filemarshal_09_06.htm), which does integrate
with Outlook.
Public key encryption requires that the recipient obtains a "digital
certificate" from a Certification Authority like VeriSign or Thawte. This
digital certificate will have two parts, a public key and a private key.
The owner of the certificate publishes the public key in any fashion s/he
chooses. The person wishing to send a secure message uses the public key to
encrypt the message and then sends that message. Only the holder of the
private key corresponding to the public key is able to decrypt the message.
This, even if the message is intercepted, it will be inintelligible except
to the intended recipient. If both parties have digital certificates, each
can use the public key of the other to provide two-way secure transmission
of messages. Outlook natively has the ability of using digital certificates
for this type of secure exchange.