Secure Email

Gregory J. Cook, EA, CPA+ Accredited Tax Advisor Past President Alabama Society of Enrolled Agents Past President Alabama Association of Accountants

Cook Launches Ciphersend Secure Email and File Transfer!
In preparation for the upcoming 2010-2011 Tax Filing Season, we are pleased to announce that we have a secure system in place to facilitate the electronic exchange of information with our clients. We now have the ability to; securely deliver "keep copies" of tax returns in pdf format, exchange secure email messages, allow clients to upload QuickBooks files to us and return those files securely to the client.

Feel free to test the Ciphersend secure email by clicking on the lock image above and sending us a message just to say hello!

How does CipherSend work? When a client sends us a file using our CipherSend link, it is sent via a secure connection to CipherSend's secure server in Silicon Valley. An email - along with any message from the sender - is forwarded to our email address. We simply click on the emailed link and enter our CipherSend login and password to open it. How secure is CipherSend? CipherSend uses 128 bit SSL encryption which is the standard used by banks and other financial institutions. Do I really need encryption? Isn't that only for the Defense Department? Many people get intimidated by the word encryption, but on the internet, "secure" and "encrypted" mean the same thing. When you logon to your bank's website with your user name and password, you are sending your information to them encrypted. You don't see that encryption and neither do we when you use our CipherSend link.

What if I don't receive a CipherSend reply message from Cook & Co.?
CipherSend is vastly superior to an email address or contact form on our website because unlike regular email or contact forms, CipherSend always emails a verification message to the sender so that he or she can click on it to verify whether or not we received it. Whenever we receive a message sent to us via CipherSend, we will always click on the verification link to let the sender know that his or her message was received.

Why is CipherSend better than having a secure login on our website to trade files?
With CipherSend, we never have to deal with the hassle of giving out user names and passwords. No one likes having to remember more passwords - not us and not our clients and associates. With CipherSend, people just click our button and send us messages and files securely without needing a password or login!

Will CipherSend send messages and files securely to anyone?
We can send secure files to anyone with an email address. However, if the recipient is not a registered CipherSend member, we will need to give him or her the password we used to encrypt our file or message.

Does Cook and Company offer any alternatives to CipherSend?
Yes. We can send copies of tax returns and other documents in Adobe PDF format directly to you or others with your permission, in password protected format. In cases where file size requires compression, we use WinZip to reduce the size of the files.
 
We can use encryption with WinZip. WinZip supports AES encryption in two different strengths: 128-bit AES and 256-bit AES. These numbers refer to the size of the encryption keys that are used to encrypt the data. 256-bit AES is stronger than 128-bit AES, but both of them can provide significantly greater security than the standard Zip 2.0 method. An advantage of 128-bit AES over the 256-bit AES is that it is slightly faster, that is, it takes less time to encrypt or decrypt a file.