Microsoft takes the hassle out of Office 365 email encryption

That was all well and good if they were a Microsoft customer, but everyone else had to sign up for a Microsoft account before they could view their encrypted messages.

Perhaps realizing this was an inconvenience -- because, as it turns out, not everyone on Earth uses MicrosoftMicrosoft's services -- the company has removed this requirement. Alles zu Microsoft auf CIO.de

Now, recipients who don't have a Microsoft account -- or who have one but aren't logged into it -- can view their encrypted message using a one-time passcode that Microsoft will send to them via email. They'll then have 15 minutes to use the passcode to view their encrypted message.

"You can then choose to reply to the message or forward it. All responses you make will be encrypted," wrote Shobhit Sahay, an Office 365Office 365 technical product manager, in a blog post on Friday. Alles zu Office 365 auf CIO.de

Office 365 Message Encryption, which replaced Exchange Hosted Encryption, went live in February and since then has been used to protect the content of more than 1 million emails, according to Sahay.