Secure Email Messages

The Secure Email Messages feature supports signatures for incoming queued email messages. If the workgroup to which you belong is properly configured in Interaction Administrator, your workgroup’s mailbox can process a secure email message and route it to you for reply. Or an Interaction Attendant mailbox can be configured to receive and route secure email messages.

The Secure Email Message feature in Interaction Connect supports cryptographic signatures. A cryptographic signature prevents anyone from modifying the contents of an email message while it is in transit. An email signature can also provide authentication of the sender of a message and verify they are who they say they are.

The Secure E-mail Message feature does not:

• Enable you to send a signed response to a secure email message.

• Enable you to listen to an encrypted email message in Interaction Mobile Office. However, you can listen to a signed email message.

• Work with monitored mailboxes set up in Interaction Administrator.

• Provide any email tools that can be used to customize the handling of secure email messages.

Overview of Secure E-mail Messages

An email message is primarily routed over the Internet using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and is formatted using the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME).  An extension of MIME, known as Secure/Multi-part Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME), enables MIME data to be sent and received securely.

S/MIME primarily provides two methods related to the security of email messages: digital signatures and encryption. Digital signatures and encryption are achieved through the use of the public key infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificates.

Note: The current release of Interaction Connect does not support email message encryption. Your CIC administrator uses Interaction Administrator to configure the secure email feature. The CIC administrator also sets up and stores the appropriate email certificates and private keys used to verify digital signatures and establish secure email provider connections.

Support for S/MIME by Customer Interaction Center enables a signed email message to be sent to the email address associated with a workgroup’s email queue or an Attendant mailbox.

In a typical scenario, one of your customers obtains a digital certificate for your workgroup’s email address. The customer may use that digital certificate to sign and send an email message containing confidential information such as an account number to the workgroup’s email address. CIC validates the digital signature and routes it to an available agent in your workgroup.

Secure E-mail Interaction Icons

The icons for secure email interactions identify whether the interaction was signed.

Tip: Click the icon to display details about the associated signature.

Related Topics

Working with E-mail Messages