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Receiving Secure Email

Members of the Stanford community use the Secure Email service to transmit sensitive data, including Protected Health Information (PHI) in accordance with the HIPAA guidelines.

The indication that you have received a secure email is that the subject of the message will contain "Secure:"

Note: Incoming messages with "Secure:" in the subject line are not tagged as spam by Stanford's mail servers, regardless of the potential spam nature. Outside mail servers, however, may tag these messages as spam.

Except for email provided through Google Apps, secure email sent to your Stanford Email account (or that of other trusted domains such as @lpch.org or @stanfordmed.org) arrives in your Inbox like any other email message. Communication to and from these systems is guaranteed to be encrypted. For undergraduate students and all GSB faculty, staff, and students, see the Reading Secure Email in Stanford Google Apps page.

Messages received at any other domain will not show the body of the message, but instead will show an attachment. The first time you receive secure email from a Stanford Email account, you will need to register the email address in order to retrieve the message. You will be prompted to provide the following information:

  • Your name
  • A password
  • Answers to three security questions that you will be asked if you forget your password

For subsequent messages, you only need to enter your password to retrieve your messages. You can submit a request to reset your password if you forget it.

Last modified April 18, 2013