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User-Friendly Encryption Options

Forum Index > Security > User-Friendly Encryption Options
2008-06-16 10:06:36
gxh
Registered: Jun 16 2008
Posts: 2

Hi,

I am designing a form that will be distributed to users (outside my organization) who will return the completed form by email. However, since the forms will contain sensitive information (e.g., SSN, birthdate), they need to be encrypted before they're returned.

I think the encryption instructions will confuse some people, so I would like to make the experience as seamless for the user as possible. Is there a way to add a button that would automatically encrypt the document with our public certificate? Also, is it possible to send a form with our public certificate embedded in it such that the form will prompt users to import our certificate into their Trusted Identities when the PDF is opened for the first time? I'm looking into other submission options, but for now, email is the only viable option.

If there are better ways to approach this, I would also appreciate your ideas and advice.

Thanks!
gxh

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2008-06-16 11:00:21
#1
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4307
Because email is so insecure, use a secured web site (https://) for the submit.

George Kaiser

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2008-06-18 14:54:56
#2
klofkorn
Registered: Jan 21 2008
Posts: 1
I'm faced with a similar problem. Working in medical research it's important to secure any data covered by HIPAA prior to transmission over the internet. An example would be a medical history form. Use of an https transmission isn't practical since we are dealing with a great number of study participants who all have their own e-mail accounts. We need to have a form they can fill out and easily submit as an encrypted document. The form needs to be encrypted locally at their end so that it's safe before it is even sent to their e-mail server.

Could we just set up the form with a user password delivered separately? Would a form designed with a user password retain the user password and still allow the data to be saved before sending?

Any ideas?

I'm a bio-medical librarian in Phoenix, Arizona.

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2008-06-19 08:21:52
#3
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4307
You might want to search Adobe's documentation for information about Acrobat/Reader security, [url=http://blogs.adobe.com/security/]Security Matters[/url] for more information about PDF security.

For very sensitive data Acrobat/Reader passwords can be broken by using brute force methods and there are many PDF Readers that do not respect the password protection.

I would not consider HIPPA as the driving security standard, medical ethics prior to HIPPA required patient confidentiality that should still be respected.

George Kaiser

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