The modern equivalent of sifting through mail in the mailbox: you scan your email columns (from, subject, date sent) and decide which mail to open and read immediately, which messages to defer to another time and which to delete unopened. Over the past decade, your email has become your primary mailbox, where memos from the boss and notes from the kids arrive alongside ads or junk mail from sites you forgot you subscribed to.

At one time, the prospect of confidential banking information sitting in your inbox would have sent the cautious person into a panic. Even if email is the most immediate way to send information to you, financials swirling through the global network between you and your bank could be intimidating. We have all heard about the potential for hacking, stolen identity and other criminal activity.

Your neighbors at Jefferson Bank have studied this problem in depth. As e-commerce proliferates, they have kept up with the latest precautionary measures and share that information in customer communications and on their website. Additionally, critical information that the bank sends to its customers is securely encrypted. Encryption obscures information until it is “decoded” by the user – the bank customer receiving the email.

“Our email encryption system scrambles the information in the email. If an unauthorized party intercepts the email, the information is useless to them because it is unreadable. When the email is securely received, the customer authorizes it, and it delivers the information,” Betsy Baker, Jefferson Bank’s Vice President of Marketing, said.

Jefferson’s encrypted email system also makes sure you know who the email is coming from. By now, most computer users know email asking for login, password or other sensitive information is highly suspicious.

“There is no doubt that the email is from Jefferson Bank and includes important information that is encrypted to be secure,” Baker said. “Any other email asking sensitive questions about your banking business should be immediately discarded or reported.”

Encrypted email is not new – the online business community has been working with encryption algorithms for more than a decade. Everyone wants to be able to use the mobile, fluid convenience of online communications without worrying about electronic eavesdropping or criminal malfeasance. Jefferson Bank was careful to adopt proven technologies in order to provide their customers with as much convenience and security as possible.

Encryption and online security in general, requires active participation by the receiver as well as the sender. Jefferson Bank has provided a thorough guide to online and email security on their website. You don’t need to be a Jefferson Bank customer to review your personal systems and practices.

“Our customers are our top priority,” said Baker “and this is just another way that we have continually tried to provide the most personalized service possible for them.”