How do I send personally identifiable information (PII) securely?
- Send your documents via United States Postal Service (USPS);
- Fax them to 541-962-3661;
- Upload electronically through the ;
- Encrypt document(s) and attach them to an email, preferably from your 91´ŤĂ˝ email account. The minimum acceptable encryption is AES 256-bit. Password must be provided separately.
WinZip instructions for file/folder encryption and password protection
There are many applications that have the ability to encrypt attachments. An example is provided here for WinZipâ˘, with the caveat that this is not the only acceptable method, and unless very carefully configured, WinZip would not fit the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) which is defined by . The minimum acceptable encryption is AES 256-bit for PSIs.
- Open a folder to the location of the file(s)/folder(s) that you wish to encrypt.
- Select the file(s)/folder(s) that you wish to encrypt. Note that in order to select more than one file/folder, you must press the âCtrlâ key on the keyboard while selecting them.
- Right-click over one of the selected items.
- Select WinZip. From the submenu that appears, select âAdd to Zip File.â
- In the âAdd Filesâ dialog box, specify a âFile nameâ and âDestinationâ (location) for the finished Zip file.
- Select â.Zipâ as the Compression Type.
- Under Encryption, check the âEncrypt filesâ box.
- Click the âAddâ button.
- A pop-up window may appear saying âYou should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the various encryption methods before using this feature. Please press the F1 key for more information, particularly if this is the first time you are using encryption.â Select the âOKâ button to continue.
- In the âEnter Passwordâ field, enter an appropriate password. Passwords must be at least eight characters and must contain at least one of each the following: a lowercase character (a-z), an uppercase character (A-Z), a number character (0-9), and a symbol character (!, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, etc.).
- In the âRe-enter Passwordâ field, enter the same password from Step #10, and remember the password for future reference.
- Click the âOKâ button.
- A pop-up window may appear saying âAdd Complete. Your files have been added. The files will be compressed and encrypted when saved.â Click the âOKâ button to continue.
- The encrypted WinZip file should be in the location identified in Step #5 above.
- The password must not be included in the same message and should either be included in a separate email or verbally provided to the intended user.