Email Encryption Laws everything you need to know about HIPAA and the HITECH Act

Email Encryption Laws You Should Know: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

If your company stores or sends personal information, you need to know the email encryption laws that may apply to your company. This blog post will look at the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and discuss what this monumental legislation means to your company.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)

GLBA, which was introduced on November 2, 1999, were new privacy laws regulating what you are allowed to do with confidential personal information. In other words, it governs how personal information is collected, used and most importantly for email encryption, maintained. The law requires that companies adopt a written policy for handling confidential personal information as well as distribute the policies properly.

The Act also prohibits the sharing of an individuals’ personal information with non-affiliated third-parties except:

• When individuals are told their information will be shared with others;
• When individuals are given the opportunity to tell you not to share their information;
• When an individual does not "opt out" of disclosure to third parties.

What does this mean for email encryption?

Simply, if personal information is contained in an email, when sent, that email should be sent via an encrypted method.

Further details on other email encryption laws to come in future blog postings!