LuxSci has added several new SMTP usage analysis tools which are especially useful for customers sending bulk email though our High Volume Outbound Email Service.

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SecureForm is LuxSci’s service that makes it quick and easy to collect data, including files, from web and PDF form posts and have that data emailed to one or more recipients and/or archived in a LuxSci WebAides document storage area.  The “Secure” in SecureForm refers in part to the fact that the emailed form data can be secured using PGP or S/MIME.  This, combined with enforced use of SSL, ensures that the form data is secured from end-to-end … from submission by the end user to the receipt by the web site administrator.  This ensures HIPAA compliance and strong security for that data.

Now, SecureForm supports the option of secure delivery of form data emails to recipients using TLS instead of PGP or S/MIME.  While use of TLS only is less secure than PGP or S/MIME, it is more user friendly — there is no need for certificates or extra steps to decrypt the messages once they arrive.  TLS does provide transport encryption from LuxSci’s servers to the recipients servers and thus still provides HIPAA compliant form data delivery. 

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TLS stands for “Transport Layer Security” and is closely related to “SSL” (Secure Socket Layer). TLS is one of the standard ways that computers transmit information over an encrypted channel. In general, when one computer connects to another computer and uses TLS, the following happens:

1. Computer A connects to Computer B (no security)
2. Computer B says “Hello” (no security)
3. Computer A says “Lets talk securely over TLS” (no security)
4. Computer A and B agree on how to do this (secure)
5. The rest of the conversation is encrypted (secure)

In particular:

• The meat of the conversation is encrypted
• Computer A can verify the identity of Computer B (by examining its SSL certificate, which is required for this dialog)
• The conversation cannot be eavesdropped upon (without Computer A knowing)
• The conversation cannot be modified by a third party
• Other information cannot be injected into the conversation by third parties.

TLS (and SSL) is used for many different reasons on the Internet and helps make the Internet a more secure place, when used. One of the popular uses of TLS is with SMTP.  See also:

• How Does Secure Socket Layer (SSL or TLS) Work?
• The Case for Email Security (Why normal email is insecure)

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LuxSci’s SecureLine end-to-end email filtering solution has been augmented with a new, optional, outbound email encryption option: “TLS Only”.

SecureLine accounts that enable “TLS Only” can have their outbound email delivered over an SMTP TLS encrypted channel to recipients whose email services support it.  This mitigates the need for using PGP, S/MIME, or SecureLine Escrow message pickup service for many secure outbound email messages — if TLS message transport encryption is “good enough” for your organization (i.e. it is for HIPAA compliance and it is for most bank-to-bank communications).

SecureLine TLS-Only Outbound Encryption:

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LuxSci has added two new features to help administrators manage the forwarding of email in their accounts so that they can meet HIPAA and other regulatory requirements and at the same time easily control the actions of their users:

• Globally restricting email forwarding to only recipients whose email servers support SMTP TLS for message transport encryption, and
• Globally restricting users from managing their own email forwarding settings.

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LuxSci’s High Volume Outbound Email Sending Service, released earlier this year, has been a notable success.  Our service permits the sending of legitimate bulk email messages and also provides reliable “smarthost” services.  However, the offering is restricted to SMTP services and does not include the many outbound email processing tools present in LuxSci’s Premium Email service.  I.e. see  LuxSci Outbound Email: 5 Sending Options Compared!

Since High Volume Mail was offered, we have had many requests to send HIPAA-compliant bulk outbound email, i.e. newsletters and notices that contain protected health information (PHI) .  In such cases, SecureLine should be used to encrypt the outbound email in a way that can be opened by any recipient, but which is still secure.  Unfortunately, integration with SecureLine is not a feature of our Basic High Volume service.

LuxSci has responded by releasing Premium High Volume Outbound Email Service.  This is essentially Premium Email hosting with:

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It used to be that to send an email, you had very few choices and even less control over what happened once the message was sent, how many emails you could send, or how you connected to the Internet to send email.  Well, times have changed, the Internet has evolved, users are more savvy, and expectations are much higher.

Today, LuxSci offers five different ways to send outbound email, each geared to particular uses and needs.  In this article, we will describe each method, examine the pros and cons, and end with a  feature chart.  Our goal is to make your outbound email shopping experience straightforward and to provide you with an email service appropriate for your needs.

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LuxSci users have a new setting whereby they can choose to have copies of all messages that they send via SMTP from their email programs automatically delivered to their “sent” email folder on the server. This is advantageous in that:

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LuxSci has long supported the concept of “capturing outbound (and inbound) email,” where copies of all outbound email for all users in a domain are sent to an email address of your choice (be it on LuxSci or elsewhere).

Now, this kind of automatic outbound email copying can be enabled and configured on a per-user basis.  Each user can choose to forward copies of all outbound email (sent from WebMail or SMTP) to any single address of his/her choice; this address can be different for each user.

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Users of LuxSci’s High Volume Outbound Email Service send thousands of messages to opt-in distribution lists of clients and subscribers.   However, as with any bulk mailing, there are always permanent failure bounces due to addresses that are no longer valid or other issues.  Usually, managing these bounces is somewhat of a challenge; however, prompt removal of invalid email messages is one requirement of good netiquette when sending bulk mailings.

LuxSci offers a free tool to assist you in managing your email bounces:

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