Online security has emerged as one of the biggest dilemmas these days. The security breaches not only have breached the account of millions of private accounts these days but have served to be the major reason for the collapse of the growing businesses as well.
One needs to have a very secure platform for establishing internet-based communication or for sending confidential documents, messages, or files.
A wide range of people today prefer opting for electronic devices as they think they are protected against viruses. Whereas, you can easily find a lot of people thinking of the documents being more secure and private than that of anything else.
Majority of the businesses today rely on emails and faxes for establishing communication. Before we jump over the query, “Is fax more secure than email?” it is quite important that we should go through every single detail including the different pros and cons of each of the options in detail.
Table of Contents
Quick Summary
Fax is often considered more secure than email due to the limited exposure to the internet and internet-connected devices. Fax machines communicate through phone lines, which are typically harder to access than public internet connections.
Advantages of Email
- It is one of the fastest and most convenient methods of communication.
- Emails are used widely.
- They are absolutely easy to use, send and read content.
- Emails can be sent conveniently to single and multiple recipients, depending upon the requirement.
- Privacy of the information included is absolute.
- It includes a reliable system of logging where a password is utmost required to get access over an email.
- Users are free to use firewalls and antimalware for protecting the computer from the spying eyes of hackers.
Disadvantages of Email
- These are quite vulnerable to dangerous attachment. One can receive an email containing o spyware or malware that can further infect the computers.
- Email accounts can be hacked and accessed easily by other people.
- It is not a legal option for bringing documents.
- One can easily block the email or can directly send it to the spam.
Advantages of the Fax
- The majority of the fax providers offer fully encrypted faxed documents and that further help in protecting and keeping data private and safe throughout.
- One can easily use the cloud-based fax for binding the documents legally in compilation with federal regulations.
- Internet faxes can’t be blocked or don’t even include spam or viruses.
- The online fax users cloud phone systems for establishing communications through messages.
- Faxes are usually supposed to be fully encrypted and it is tough to intercept or temper.
- It is a paperless solution for creating hassle-free communication.
Disadvantages of Fax
- Internet faxes are directed towards machines in a very less private space. Only the people in that accommodation or office would be able to see the related faxes.
Is Fax More Secure Than Email?
Fax is supposed to be more secure than that emails in different regards. The option not only offers very limited exposure to the internet but also to internet-connected devices as well.
The majority of fax machines event today rely on phone lines for establishing successful connections, and getting over the public internet connections is difficult.
The main thing that serves behind the absolute security of the fax machines is that they are very less useful for cyber criminals.
Hence, chances of getting breached or hacked are almost negligible, except for the devices to the machines connected to the fax machine’s immediate networks.
But if we talk about emails, one can easily get access to an email account unless the account is protected with two-factor authentication. It is quite easier for email users to get tricked and get into spam.
One can easily click a link in an email and can become a witness to cyber crimes easily. It is quite difficult to breach the passwords or the other credentials of the fax machines and that further makes it a more secure option than that of the emails.
Fax machines bring up absolute security at the cost of convenience.
How Does Online Faxing Prove To Be a Better Option Than That of Emails?
Security
The main reason why the majority of the big industries including healthcare and finance even opt for faxing to transmit their confidential documents is security. Fax is supposed to be far superior to that of emails.
Emails go through different serves before reaching out to the intended recipient and that further raises the chances of being getting compromised.
Whereas if we talk about the faxing services, they generally used military-grade encryption which prevents unauthorized access to the data and hence makes it much more secure.
Compliance
Fax goes absolutely in compliance with the privacy laws of HIPAA and GLBA. Fax is mostly preferred by majority of the businesses and organizations today, especially those that are dealing with private information.
Whereas if we talk about the emails, they don’t comply fully with the HIPAA and hence have the raised risk of penalties and hefty fines.
Audit logs And Transmission Reports
Fax is supposed to be much more efficient than that of emails. The majority of the email services available in the market fail to provide built-in features for establishing confirmation whether the messages have been sent and delivered successfully or not.
The only thing that makes it happen is the bouncing of emails and the receiving of the email delivery failure notice.
Whereas if we talk about the online fax platforms, users here are informed immediately as soon as the fax message is delivered. Fax offers users the absolute convenience of tracking messages through the fax delivery reports.
Moreover, it also offers users the facility of downloading and printing the transmission receipts of their files conveniently. Users can use these transmission receipts as proof without any hassle.
Smooth And Secure Delivery
Fax ensures users have seamless and secure delivery of the messages to be sent. In case you are willing to send a document with urgent attention, you can easily opt for the Fax option without any hassle.
The faxing not only offers you a guarantee over the successful delivery of the message to the intended recipient but also offers you the receiving of the confirmation as well.
Whereas if we talk about emails, it is a bit difficult for the users to track them conveniently. The chances are quite higher that if you are sending an email to someone with larger content, it may deliver to the spam folder of the recipients.
Cloud Storage
Fax generally offers unlimited online storage to the users without any hassle whereas emails generally don’t offer unlimited storage. One has to pay extra for the privilege they are willing to enjoy.
Fax offers users the freedom of enjoying a wide range of better options. One cant only get unlimited cloud storage here but it also offers the convenient syncing of the documents to the other cloud storage and you’re faxing solution as well.
One can now easily store unlimited documents in the cloud without any hassle. The feature supposes to be quite useful, especially when one has to fax content in higher volumes.
Advanced Features
Email and fax both are reliable and popular tools for sending and receiving content in different formats. Fax offers a comprehensive list of a wide range of advanced features, making it an absolute platform for establishing successful document workflow.
Fax mostly can turn your smartphone into a portable document scanner. One can easily convert the physical files on your device to digital ones just by making a very few clicks here.
Fax and Email: Can we make the best use of both?
Both fax and email are the ultimate sources of establishing communication. Rather than just checking out the rivalry, we can easily make the best use of both of the worlds without any failure.
One can opt for the email-to-fax and fax-to-email functionalities for enjoying seamless access without any hassle.
Fax vs Email: Which is the Better Option: The Verdict
Email is currently serving as the primary source of communication without any failure whereas we talk about the fax is the go-to method for sending documents and brings up more security and safety to the business world.
Both of these options are an absolute necessity for business communications. Fax currently has become a more advanced option with evolving technology.
One doesn’t need to stay dependent on phone lines only for fax these days. One can easily send and receive faxes over internet-ready devices.
It is currently serving as the highly sought method for sharing important legal documents such as contracts, medical reports, and receipts, etc.
