Information about secure email communications

At Bank of Cyprus (the “Bank”), security of our customer data is one of our key priorities. Our aim is always to deploy worldwide accepted practices at all phases of our operations even we communicate information to you.

To further boost the security of email communications, our Bank has recently adopted   email encryption through Transport Layer Security Protocol.

You can read herein important information on how to configure your email servers accordingly in order to ensure that you will be able to continue receiving emails from our Bank. 

TLS is a secure Communication Encryption Protocol that only secures the exchange of data in transit between the Bank and your email service provider. The responsibility of the information in your mailbox remains with the recipient.

 

Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a Cryptographic Protocol that is widely used to provide security during communication between servers. TLS is also very popular for securing email exchanges during their transmission between email servers.

TLS can secure emails transmitted through the internet by establishing a secure encrypted communication tunnel between email servers. This encrypts the email during transmission and reduces the risk of interception, eavesdropping or even alteration/forgery.

For a successful TLS connection, both, the sender’s and the recipient’s email servers must support compatible TLS versions.

Our Bank has enabled TLS on its email servers. However, to ensure TLS is used at all times, customers’ and partners’ email servers must also ensure that they accept TLS connections.

 

How to proceed with Transport Layer Security (TLS)

 TLS is configured on an email server by the administrator. Thus, this matter must be directed to your Information Technology Department or to your Email Service Provider, requesting that they activate TLS on the email domain you are using.

Generally, modern email servers support TLS. Where TLS does not work, in most cases this is due to the fact it is not enabled on the email server or some upgrade is needed (or both). However, each case must be examined by the server administrator.

Administrators must test their system to ensure they can establish successful TLS connections, both inbound and outbound.