1. Paubox Email Suite
  2. Paubox Email Suite: FAQ

What does "Message Authentication" mean and what are the Secure Message Center security options?

This option is used to increase security for recipients who do not have modern email platforms.

How Paubox works is when a message gets sent we check if the recipient's email address supports modern TLS encryption (Transport Layer Security v1.2 or higher). If the recipient does support modern TLS, the message gets delivered with no action needed on the recipient's side. By default all replies are encrypted as well. 

There are rare occurrences (about 5% of the time) where a recipient does not support modern TLS encryption. When this occurs there are 3 possible outcomes, which you can choose in the Paubox dashboard under Customer Overview Settings (option is called Secure message authentication). You can enable one of the 3 options for secure notification recipients:

  1. Secure Link: This will provide a link for the recipient to click on and they can view messages in a secure portal. This is the default option.
  2. Secure Message Two-factor Authentication: The recipient must enter a code to view the message.
  3. Require Secure Message Login: The recipient must log in with a username and password to view the message.

All three options are secure and HIPAA compliant. Secure Link is the easiest to implement and use. Most Paubox customers use Secure Link.