As a Commonwealth agency and a law firm, we are required to protect personally identifiable information (PII), such as social security numbers, and confidential information. Email can be hacked or mis-directed, so protecting email containing PII or confidential information is critical.
To protect sensitive email or attachments, CPCS has implemented a system to send secure email using Barracuda. Following are instructions on its use.
You only need to use it when transmitting PII or particularly sensitive information. It can be used with clients, DAs, experts, etc.
NOTE:
**Notify the recipient IN ADVANCE that they will receive a secure email so they don’t delete it as phishing or spam
**Notify them that it will require login to a secure web site to view the email and attachment
**This means they will need to create a free account
**The secure email simply contains a link to the secure web site where the email and attachment may be read
Instructions:
To send a secure email:
1. To send a secure mail type [secure] in the subject line before you type your subject text. See example, below
2. Type your email body text and add any attachment as with any normal email
3. Click send. The system will notice [secure], hold your email, and send an email with a secure session link to the recipient
4. The recipient receives an email that appears similar to this:
5. The body of the secure email (below) directs the recipient to click the link to review the email
Receiving party
1. On first-time receipt of a secure email, the recipient must create an account
2. They create an account with Barracuda by clicking the link in the email
3. The account creation is a simple one-step process of choosing a password
** Remind them they need to remember their password
4. Once logged in, they are brought to their secure messages inbox
5. Click the message to read and view and download attachments
6. If the recipient uses the Barracuda reply function, it will reply through the secure app. So, if they use the reply option in Barracuda, you will receive a notification to login to the secure app to read it. If you don’t want them to reply in the Barracuda app, you will need to notify them
Any questions about this process, please reach out to the helpdesk at [email protected].