We have introduced a new way to send sensitive information by email.

As a council, we must adhere to data protection regulations and ensure that any sharing of personal or commercially sensitive information is conducted securely. Non-compliance can lead to substantial fines and harm our reputation.

Office Message Encryption (OME)

As of November 2024, we have implemented Microsoft’s Office Message Encryption (OME) for sending sensitive information via email. If you receive an email classified as personal or commercially sensitive, you will need to access it using OME.

Emails containing sensitive information will be encrypted for protection. By clicking “Read the message”, you will open the email in the OME web portal.

You may receive a notification indicating that you’ve received a protected message and need to take additional steps, such as signing in with a work or school account, or using a one-time passcode to verify your identity, especially if you are using a different email account or program.

If you are experiencing issues with the One Time Passcode (OTP) verification method, please follow these steps before contacting the sender:

  1. If you haven’t received the OTP email after requesting it, check your junk mailbox. If the OTP email isn’t in your inbox or junk mail, consult your ICT support to ensure it hasn’t been blocked.
  2. Use a Microsoft or Google account login as an alternative verification method.

Opening an encrypted email

 

Contacting us via email

Sensitive data sent to us will be managed and protected in accordance with current data protection legislation.

To ensure your email reaches us safely, please consider the following measures:

  1. Double-check the email address for any spelling errors or typos. Our email addresses end with @dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
  2. Apply encryption if possible. We can open most encrypted emails, but we will inform you if there are any issues.
  3. If you cannot apply encryption but are concerned about sending highly sensitive data, ask the council recipient to send you an encrypted email marked as “Sensitive Data”, which you can then respond to. Responding to an encrypted email will maintain the protections.