Virtru Email Protection Guide
- Idalia Torres
- Daniel LaGrow
- ISO WS3
- Christopher Taverna
Introduction
The State University of New York at Fredonia utilizes Virtru to protect its Gmail (fredonia.edu) service. Virtru protected fredonia.edu accounts provide employees the ability to send anyone end to end encrypted messages and control access throughout the life-cycle of the email. Employees can set expiration time for how long emails can be accessed, revoke access at anytime, limit forwarding, and control who can download attachments. Employees that have an authorized business need to email Category III - Restricted data to recipients can utilize the Fredonia licensed Virtru subscription to do so.
NOTE: Virtru does not encrypt inbound emails containing sensitive data from senders. Employees need to continually advise email senders that they should never send sensitive data over unencrypted email to fredonia.edu email accounts.
Getting Started
Submit a Tracker ticket to request a license
Review the Virtru Email Protection Requirements
Virtru Email Protection Requirements
Chrome browser - Note: Virtru can be enabled on Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook desktop application. Microsoft Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 are supported by Virtru.
Fredonia.edu email account w/ a Virtru license to send encrypted messages (Note: The recipient of a Virtru encrypted message does not need a Virtru license or the extension installed to view the message.)
For mobile devices download the Virtru app for iOS and Android smartphones.
Installing on Chrome
If you are signed into Chrome with your Fredonia user account, please sign out of your Fredonia Google Account by clicking on the picture/icon in the top left corner of the browser and selecting “Sign out”
Go to the installation downloads page. Under the first option of Gmail and G Suite, click on “Install.”
The link will redirect to Virtru Email Protection installation page on Chrome web store. Click on “Add to Chrome” button on the right.
A prompt requesting installation permission will show up. Click “Add extension” to approve this request.virtru
The first time after installing the browser extension, you’ll be prompted by Virtru to activate it on your current email. Click on “Activate” if you’re logged into the right account, otherwise, click on the close (x) on the top right corner and log into the licensed email.
After accepting the activation request, Virtru will activate the email address.
Sending an encrypted message with Virtru
Begin by composing a new message, as you would regularly.
Virtru will be toggled off; to use it, click the toggle button with the Virtru V.
Now that it is toggled on, press the settings button (gear icon) for further access control; you can apply security options such as disabling forwarding or watermarking attachments.
You can also add a personal introduction by selecting Personal Introduction; since Virtru encrypts your messages, someone receiving them may not be sure who they are from. The personal introduction ensures that whoever is receiving the email knows that it is from you.
Note: Subjects are not encrypted in Virtru.
Virtru encrypted email security options
Virtru offers options to protect your email from being shared by the recipients or set an expiration date.
Disable Forwarding:
Toggling the disable forwarding option will protect your email from being shared with others.
Expiration Date:
Setting an expiration date will delete your email after a selected date.
Watermarking:
One security option for Virtru secure files is the ability to apply watermarking. When enabled, Virtru's watermarking feature will superimpose the viewing recipient's email address onto the file. This can serve as an extra layer of protection for your secure files. The addition of the watermark is visible and bold, but transparent enough to not obscure the actual contents of the file when being viewed. Applying a watermark to files and attachments will also prevent the viewing recipient from downloading the file.
The Watermarking feature is available for our Gmail, Outlook, and Google Drive products. This feature supports the following common file types:
Microsoft Office documents: .docx, .pptx, .xlsx
Common image file formats: .jpeg, .png
PDF documents
Note that although newer Microsoft office file types are supported, older versions (.doc, .ppt, .xls) are not compatible. Additionally, these other common file types are not supported: .msg, .zip, .md.
Opening a Virtru encrypted email
Recipients with the Virtru Email Protection Chrome extension who open the message in their Gmail inbox will have the message decrypted automatically by Virtru.
Recipients without the Virtru extension receive a link to open the email in the Virtru Secure Reader, where they can read it, download attachments, and even reply with their own message and encrypted attachments — no installations, configurations, or sign-ins required.
In your email application, open the message encrypted by Virtru.
Click on "Unlock Message" to open the Virtru email verification portal.
In this step, Virtru verifies if you're the intended recipient of this message. If the email address displayed in the blue button is correct, click on it. Otherwise, select "Use another email address" and login to the correct email.
After your email selection in Step 3, you will be prompted to either (a) "Sign in with Google" to authenticate, or (b) get a one-time verification link sent to your inbox.
Click on Sign in with Google to continue with option (a). You may be prompted to log in with your email credentials during the process.
If you'd like to receive a verification link on your email instead of signing in with Google, click on "Or sign-in with a one-time verification link" in Step 4. This will send a temporary verification link to your email.
Open the verification email and click on the "Verify me" button.
At this point, your encrypted message will open in the Virtru Secure Reader where you can read, download attachments, and reply with your own message and encrypted attachments.
