When Not To Use The BCC In Emails

Billions of companies worldwide rely on e-mail as a business tool. E-mail eases communication for both small as well as multinational corporate offices. From the rank-and-file up to the upper management, e-mail is extensively used, and thus, the professional use of e-e-mails is necessary.

Expert E-mails: Understanding When It’s Appropriate To Use The BCC And CC

Those persons who have not utilised the electronic mails for some time now may still make the general mistake of confusing the use of a CC and BCC. CC stands for carbon copy, whilst BCC stands for blind copy. CC a person if you mean to let a third party know an information you are sharing with another individual. BCC is utilised as a security device when blasting emails to people who do not know each other. Instead of using the TO, the sender must BCC those in the mail list so as not to disclose email addresses to individuals who do not know each other. On the other hand, BCC can also be used unethically. If in an organisation people talk about a particular individual and BCCs him, then this is wrong to do. Blind copy is to protect the privacy, not to be utilised as a tool to offset transparency.

The consequence of exposing people’s email addresses to parties who should not know is serious. Hackers and spammers can capitalise on this break to send spam e-mails or implement malware attempts, which is enough to bring one person’s electronic mail down, or enough to spread the malware or virus to the whole organization where the person belongs. It is very important therefore to remember to use BCC when sending emails to multiple recipients who don’t know each other.

You can also BCC a person who needs to know the information, but who actually does not want to be involved in a certain communication exchange. Think about your superior or direct report. It could be that your boss wants to support you internally hence the need to know the information, but that he needs you to be the only individual interacting with the other party, thus the BCC.

CC, on the other hand, is intentionally keeping a person in the circle of the electronic mail. Use CC with gumption and only if you are certain the individual is part of the e-mail.

Everyone Is Accountable To Keep Electronic Mails Safe

Emails can be made safe and secure with encryption technologies that guarantee the receiver that the email came from the person who claims to have sent it. Encrypted email also ensures the integrity of the message, which means, the message has not been tampered since being despatched. In this day of rampant email fraud and many other cyberspace crime, email encryption is not anymore the exception but the norm. Corporations who want to protect their business, their workforce, and all people transacting with them will do well with this security feature in place.

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