SECURE EMAIL FAQs

“Secure Email” refers to a process by which incoming and outgoing Aspiriant email and attachments are encrypted, meaning the data cannot be read while in transit or if intercepted in the midst of delivery. Encryption converts the contents of a message into code, making it meaningless without the use of a password or key to decode the information back into ordinary language.  

Secure Email represents one aspect of our continued development of a comprehensive information security program. Best business practices and information security legislation dictate that all email containing personal information be protected by encryption when sent over the Internet. Furthermore, we take data security very seriously and want to take the necessary precautions to protect the sensitive information of our clients. 

Secure Email will arrive in your inbox from an Aspiriant address with the subject line that the sender has specified. When you open the item, rather than displaying the contents automatically, the message will notify you that the email is ready for retrieval from the Secure Message Center. The email will contain a link to the Message Center where you can set a password and log in to view, download and/or respond to the message. 

When you receive a Secure Email from Aspiriant and log into the Message Center, you will see options to “Reply” or “Reply to All” to send a secure communication back to the sender. Furthermore, you may initiate a new Secure Email to any aspiriant.com address by logging into the Message Center and composing a message. If you have never logged into the Message Center, you may ask an Aspiriant contact to send you a Secure Email that contains a link to the site and a way to respond securely. 

Not all messages will be sent through Secure Email. The system will primarily be used for any email message or attachment that contains personal information, such as a Social Security number, driver’s license number, state-issued identification number, financial account number and/or credit or debit card number. Of course, we may also use our discretion to secure any information that we might otherwise consider sensitive. Please feel free to discuss this topic with your client service team to ensure that Secure Email is used to an appropriate degree for your circumstances. 

Secure Email sent to and from Aspiriant is delivered through an encrypted connection to the Message Center. Messages stored in the Secure Message Center are encrypted with 168-bit triple DES encryption. Messages are viewed using standard SSL secure Internet connections with high (128-bit) encryption. This level of encryption is considered highly secure by industry standards. 

Messages reside in the Message Center for 28 days. After that period they are deleted. If you do not log into the Message Center to retrieve your message within this period, you will receive an email reminder. However, messages will be removed after 28 days whether they have been read or not. 

The Message Center interface provides links to download the text of the message and any attachments to the location of your choice. This functionality is much the same as downloading files from other sites on the Internet. 

Your Message Center password must be at least 6 characters in length and meet the specified complexity requirements. To ensure a password meets these requirements at first attempt, please include an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a number and a special character. Some examples are the following: Cat123!, Dog456?, Mouse3#. 

The Message Center login page contains links to reset your password. The easiest way to reset your password is to click the "Change your password" link on the login page. This will take you to a screen where you can type in your email address, new password and new reminder phrase. You do not need to know your former password to create a new one. For security purposes, a confirmation email is then sent to you with a link to verify the password change. Once you click on this link, you will be able to log into the Message Center with your new password. 

The secure email system works on a “one account per email address” basis. If you use multiple email addresses to correspond with Aspiriant via the secure email portal, you will have separate logins for each email address. The system cannot link multiple email addresses to a single account login. Please be sure you’ve separately registered each email address you actively use to correspond with Aspiriant.  

Helpful documentation and instructions are available on the Secure Message website at http://www.zixhelp.com/zixport/3.2/webhelp/portalhelp.htm. 

Aspiriant technical support is happy to assist you with any issues you may encounter on our website or when using the Message Center. Please email questions to support@aspiriant.com.