Understanding Avanan Secure Email and the Encrypted Message Portal

Understanding Avanan Secure Email and the Encrypted Message Portal

What is Avanan?

Avanan is the email security platform that scans, filters, and protects your organization's inbound and outbound email from threats like phishing, malware, and data leaks.

When a message contains sensitive information such as financial data, PHI, Social Security numbers, or credit card numbers, Avanan automatically encrypts it and delivers it through a secure portal instead of plain text.

Why did I get a “secured message” notification?

If an email you sent or received contains sensitive content, Avanan intercepts it and routes it through an encrypted portal.

This is not an error and does not mean anything is wrong with your account. It means the system detected data that falls under a compliance policy.

Why does this matter for compliance?

Many industries, including healthcare, finance, legal, and insurance, are legally required to protect sensitive data under frameworks like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, or state privacy laws.

Sending unencrypted sensitive data over email can violate these regulations, resulting in fines, breach notifications, or legal liability.

Avanan’s encryption layer automatically enforces this protection so staff do not have to remember to encrypt messages manually.

What does it prevent?

  • Interception of sensitive data by unauthorized parties in transit

  • Accidental exposure of protected data, including PHI, financial records, and credentials

  • Compliance violations tied to unsecured transmission of regulated data

  • Data leakage through forwarding or misdirected emails

How to access a secured message

  1. Open the notification email and click to view the secured message.

  2. A new tab will open prompting you to request an authentication code.

  3. Select Send authentication code.

  4. Check your inbox for the code. It may appear under Updates.

  5. Copy the code.

  6. Paste the code into the other tab to unlock and view the message.

If the portal does not load correctly, try opening it in an incognito or private browser window.

FAQ

Is this safe?
Yes. This is an added layer of protection, not a threat.

Will I always see this?
Only when a message triggers the sensitivity policy.

Can this be turned off?
No. It is a compliance safeguard tied to regulatory requirements and cannot be disabled per user.

Client Outbound Email Draft

Subject: Why You're Seeing “Secure Message” Notifications From Us

You may have noticed some of our emails now arrive as a secured message that requires an authentication code before you can open it. Here is a quick explanation of what that is and why it happens.

Our email security system, Avanan, automatically scans outgoing and incoming messages for sensitive information such as financial details, personal data, or other protected content. When it detects something that falls under a compliance requirement, it encrypts the message and delivers it through a secure portal instead of plain text.

This protects you and your business by preventing sensitive data from being intercepted or exposed, and it keeps us aligned with regulations that govern how this information must be transmitted. It is an automatic safeguard, not a sign of a problem with your account or ours.

To open one of these messages:

  1. Click to view the secured message.

  2. On the new tab, select Send authentication code.

  3. Check your inbox for the code under Updates and copy it.

  4. Paste the code into the other tab to unlock the message.

If you run into trouble, try opening the link in an incognito or private browser window.

If you have any questions about this process, feel free to reach out.

Video you can send clients:
https://www.loom.com/share/d3855eee2585406099e552fb8632dc4a

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