How safe is it to send an invoice by email?

Saskia

How can I be sure the information isnt read by a 3rd party/Cookie etc?

m_stan

Email isn't secure, but having said that some of the biggest companies in the world send invoices by email.

What's in the invoice that you are concerned about being intercepted ? Are you a hitman invoicing for services rendered ?

Anti

If you are going to send it by email, just rar/zip it and password it. Then phone the customer and tell them the password over the phone.

aidan_walsh

Cookies are small text files placed on your computer by an internet browser to save certain site specific information. You don't need to worry about one stealing your invoices.

DublinDilbert

I'm not sure how a cookie could possibly read anything there seems to be a-lot of misinformation out there about them...

The level of encryption used in practice usually depends on the value of the material being sent / received...

You could look up a program called PGP for encrypting emails, but it's probably over kill, they have a free version available...

The simplest thing to do would be to zip it with a password as said above...

you also have to ask yourself would it be any safer being sent by snail mail? probably not as this can be tampered with too...

Saskia

Thanks for the replies so far.

My VAT number and home address will be on the invoice, Im not sure how comfortable I am sending this info over the interweb in this day and age of spyware and malware.

themole

You could go old skool and fax it.

Khannie

Saskia wrote:

My VAT number and home address will be on the invoice, Im not sure how comfortable I am sending this info over the interweb in this day and age of spyware and malware.

If it's any help, I would have no problem sending an email with that information in it. It's down to personal preference though.

themole

Saskia wrote:

Thanks for the replies so far.

My VAT number and home address will be on the invoice, Im not sure how comfortable I am sending this info over the interweb in this day and age of spyware and malware.

If you are trading as a company from your home address then that information is readily available. You can use this link to search for a company by name and get it address and vat number.

mneylon

Anti wrote:

If you are going to send it by email, just rar/zip it and password it. Then phone the customer and tell them the password over the phone.

That sort of defeats the entire email thing.

Cabaal

blacknight wrote:

That sort of defeats the entire email thing.

Sent them two e-mails, one with the rar and one with the password

Orrr if your really paranoid, advise customers that they can only send/receive e-mail to you if they have a digital signature and encryption using PGP

mneylon

Cabaal wrote:

Sent them two e-mails, one with the rar and one with the password

Most people don't have rar installed

Cabaal wrote:

Orrr if your really paranoid, advise customers that they can only send/receive e-mail to you if they have a digital signature and encryption using PGP

Hehe

tried that a while back - people got very confused and upset

thebman

There are plenty of email applications out there that will support encryption of email if you want to get one.

The password zipping idea is probably secure enough though. You can get winrar for free.

Anti

blacknight wrote:

That sort of defeats the entire email thing.

Yeah maybe, but atleast it is alot more secure that way.

Gadgetman496

Saskia wrote:

Thanks for the replies so far.

My VAT number and home address will be on the invoice, Im not sure how comfortable I am sending this info over the interweb in this day and age of spyware and malware.

You are really bordering on the paranoid a little!

Scenario:
So you send the invoice using the most complicated method of encryption and you Zip it too, then you password protect it & you send the recipient a second email containing the password? & just to be sure! you send the password in some sort of coded format followed by a third email explaining how to decode the password. Now at this stage you must be feeling fairly secure?

Punchline:

The recipients secretary prints a copy of the invoice & leaves it on open display on his/hers easily accessible receptionists desk? Helloooo!:eek:

mickoneill30

How about using something like this

http://www.primopdf.com/
Convert the invoice to a PDF and encrypt it with a password.

Email it to the customer. Include a link to Acrobat Reader. In the email tell the customer the password is his mobile number or business name or something that you both know.

This will defeat any automated tools that are scanning email. It's not very secure though as PDF passwords (and RAR & ZIP) can be cracked easily enough by someone determined but if they're doing that to get into an invoice then they already smart enough to get your VAT number and business address. It's about as secure as sending a letter in an envelope.

For proper security you'd need something like PGP (mentioned above) but that's overkill for protecting your VAT number and business address. That's pretty public info anyway.

mneylon

If you made me jump through hoops to access your invoice I'd tell you to where to go and demand a paper invoice

sdanseo

blacknight wrote:

If you made me jump through hoops to access your invoice I'd tell you to where to go and demand a paper invoice

Agreed tbh - take the risk or fax/post it. No point in making things over complicated.

m_stan

why not try carrier pigeon, though I suppose they can be shot down

knird evol

i wonder to what extent is anyone out there intercepting internet traffic
randomly. never hear anything about it anyway. i think theres lots of freeware programs to crack them zip/rar passwords in case you >forget< your password. i have one that works anyway.