Why fax is more secure than email

Email may be a much newer technology than fax, but fax use continues to grow by more than 12% every year. This has left many onlookers confused as fax seems like an outdated technology that should be left in the past. However, there are very legitimate and important reasons as to why faxing is better – an important one being its inherent security.

The problem with email
Sending a document via email is almost like writing it on the back of a postcard and popping it into the mailbox, to be read by every single person who handles it on its journey to its destination. When you click “send” on an email it gets sent through firewalls, ISPs, servers, virus checkers and even data harvesting bots. It is stored, saved, copied and forwarded multiple times without any form of encryption. This means that email can very easily become compromised and the important data within it can be read and downloaded by unscrupulous third parties.

Why fax is better
Cloud faxing, and even manual faxing, are a different story entirely. Any kind of faxing uses the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) which is inherently secure. When a document is sent by fax it is converted into base64 binary at its source, sent through the PSTN and then reassembled at the other end. Hacking into the PSTN would require direct manual access to the telephone line, and even if a file was intercepted it would appear as nothing but noise, making it impossible to interpret / read.

Benefits of Cloud Fax vs Email:

• Documents can be considered legally binding
• Faxes can include a physical or digital signature
• Complies with Federal Regulations including; HIPAA, SOX, GLBA and More
• Faxes do not get blocked, contain spam or viruses
• Faxes keep your data private with end-to-end encryption
• Electronic faxes can be sent to a secure portal for added levels of encryption

Enhanced security with Sfax
Sfax has further enhanced security measures in place. Physical safeguards, higher level data encryption, stringent security and privacy policies and highly trained team members all contribute to making Sfax an extremely secure faxing service. Sfax complies with the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which sets down special requirements for exchanging protected health information. Sfax also creates a digital audit trail that can be reviewed at any time. This allows users to keep track of exactly what has been sent to who and when, helping to ensure that private data only goes to the exact people who need to receive it.

Email is far too insecure to even come close to compliance with any kind of privacy or security regulations. Many people thoughtlessly send private data by email, not realizing that the information they are sending could be intercepted along the way and potentially get into the wrong hands. If you need to send or receive sensitive documents then you should use a secure cloud faxing service. It’s easy, efficient and completely secure.