Online Faxing: What You Need to Know About Data Encryption and Cloud Storage

People sent sensitive data over public fax machines and stored documents on-site in unsecured filing cabinets for many years. And many of them did it without a care in the world.

So, it’s safe to say that a lot of sensitive data has been exposed to unauthorized people. And organizations that continue to use fax machines are putting proprietary information at risk every day and opening themselves up to significant financial losses.

However, things are shifting as new digital technologies take root. Today’s companies are increasingly aware of the security risks of sending sensitive information via fax.

That’s why you should move away from using traditional fax machines to send and receive sensitive data. Online fax solutions with built-in data encryption can solve these problems. With data encryption, you gain a much more secure way of transmitting and storing data than traditional faxing.

Table of Contents

• What Is Data Encryption?
• Why Is Data Encryption Important?
• How Data Security Helps You Build More Brand Trust
• Enhance Your Data Security with eFax

What Is Data Encryption?

Today, several major industries still prefer faxing information, including the government, health, financial services and manufacturing industries. Also, in large firms of 500 employees or more, over 80 percent of workers still use fax machines.

It would be wonderful if your intended recipient was the only person who could read your electronic data, wouldn’t it? That’s where data encryption comes in. It involves translating data into a different form or code so that only people with decryption or secret key can access and read the original message.

Online fax encryption technology works by scrambling any sensitive electronic so that it stays private. That makes it harder to tamper or steal. And if unauthorized third parties attempt to access your data, they’ll only see a nonsensical collection of characters and words. While they could try to make sense of it, that would be an impossible task without the data encryption key.

Another advantage of data encryption is that it keeps you compliant with several data protection laws. In the US, a mix of federal and state laws protect the personal data of residents, while the European Union (EU) has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive, among others.

Violating these regulations, even if those missteps are unintentional, can have far-reaching consequences for companies. That’s why data encryption technology is instrumental in keeping your company legally compliant with all state and federal data security laws governing your industry. Also, having data encryption in place can help you navigate legal and security minefields in other countries where you do business, thus protecting you against having to pay large non-compliance fees.

Why Is Data Encryption Important?

By 2020, there were 44 zettabytes of data in the entire digital world. That equates to 40 times more bytes of data than there are stars in the universe as we know it. Every digital action your company takes, collecting, saving or disseminating information, contributes to the global data byte count. That includes all the data you send and receive via fax.

Depending on the nature of your business, you may collect and house private information, such as Social Security numbers, email addresses and financial account information. What’s more, you may have insights into customers’ previous purchase history and saved shopping preferences stored in databases if you are in the retail or eCommerce space. If your work in healthcare, you may have medical or insurance information about patients in your data sets. No matter what your business does, you have stored data.

While all the information you gather can be vital to your operations, this data can include private or sensitive details about your clients. No one who does business with you would be happy to know their personal data has been exposed to unauthorized third parties. Unfortunately, cybercrime is on the rise as bad actors continually come up with new schemes to access personal and corporate data. No company is safe from the risk of cyberattacks today. It’s clear why data security should be a priority for your organization.

In fact, research shows that your clients expect you to safeguard their personal data at all times. For example, one study indicates that 87 percent of consumers would not do business with a company whose data security practices concern them. Also, research has uncovered that 78 percent of customers would stop doing business with a company that gives away their sensitive data.

You must take customer concerns about data privacy very seriously. How your company handles its data security can influence how customers perceive your business. Your goal is to present your company as an industry leader in data protection.

How can you do that? Encrypting sensitive data is a must. When you pledge to encrypt data, your customers gain the assurance that you will protect their data against unauthorized access.

A secure online fax service will use data encryption, thus enabling you to send and receive faxes confidently. That’s why partnering with a quality service provider is necessary to enhance your personal and business communication.

How Data Security Helps You Build More Brand Trust

Did you know that over 80 percent of customers prefer to buy products from brands they trust?  That’s why you should never underestimate the effect of brand trust in attracting and keeping customers.

Also, it’s worth noting that data privacy can make current and potential customers perceive you in a positive light. Case in point: 69 percent of consumers want brands to address the issue of personal data and how it is collected and used.

When you use cloud-based online fax encryption, you will improve your brand identity’s trustworthiness. At the same time, you will aggressively safeguard your electronic data and keep it safe from potential breaches. Also, your encryption technology makes it harder for third parties to invade your customers’ privacy.

Another advantage is that you can retain both original and backup digital fax copies for as long as you want. By doing so, you can enhance the accuracy of your business records and protect your business against anyone who wants to steal or tamper with information.

In addition, you will safeguard yourself from business record losses. And the good news is that cloud storage is compatible with PDF, Microsoft Office 365 files (examples include Microsoft Word and Excel documents) and other business document types.

Simply store or send your private files as secure faxes online, and data encryption technology will ensure they are kept safe and secure. The technology is effortless to use and can fit seamlessly into your team’s work routines.

Enhance Your Data Security with eFax

eFax is an internet-based fax technology that enables you to send and receive secure personal or business faxes from anywhere in the world using your smartphone, tablet or computer. You can use it via a mobile app, desktop app, email or a secure online portal on the web.

As an added benefit, you don’t need to invest in a dedicated fax machine to use eFax. You also will not require a multifunctional fax-enabled printer or an additional investment in a landline to send and receive faxes. Instead, all you need is an internet-enabled device and access to the web.

eFax is compatible with many types of business infrastructure, making it possible for them to integrate the cloud and advanced data encryption quickly. It utilizes secure socket layer (SSL) encryption within a secure server to optimize security when faxing, thus, protecting your business against dangerous data breaches which affect data integrity. You can safeguard internal company information along with your clients’ and partners’ data.

Another benefit of eFax is that there is no third-party human intervention to process your faxes. That means you won’t have to risk an unauthorized person gaining insight into your private financial or business data.

With the flexibility to use eFax on various devices, you can send and receive faxes wherever you are, on any device, 24/7. All you need is an internet-enabled device to send and receive your faxes, which you can then print later if the need arises. You’ll be able to conduct your business with speed and efficiency, giving you more opportunities to win business and excel at customer satisfaction.

The time is now to leave your outdated fax machine in the past and bring your communications into the 21st century. You can get started with eFax today and get the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your fax communications are always secure. In addition, you can achieve alignment with critical security and privacy laws to avoid any risk of non-compliance. Your client and partners will value your commitment to keeping their data secure, leading to greater loyalty and increased business opportunities.

If you need insight into the value eFax delivers to other organizations, you can read the many positive endorsements in our product reviews section.

Send and receive faxes in minutes. Start faxing now.