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One-Time Passcode for Office 365 Message Encryption

Shobhit Sahay is a technical product manager on the Office 365 team.

Back in February, we launched Office 365 Message Encryption, the all-new encryption service that allows you to send encrypted mail to anyone. We’ve come a long way since that announcement. We’ve upgraded all of our Exchange Hosted Encryption (EHE) customers to Office 365 Message Encryption. And we’ve seen great service adoption, with more than a million encrypted messages sent using Office 365 Message Encryption already! While we’ve been upgrading our EHE customers, we‘ve also been busy responding to your feedback and are happy to announce the release of One-Time Passcode. With One-Time Passcode, you don’t need to sign in with a Microsoft account to view an encrypted message.

Let’s take a look at this new feature.

Previously, when you received a message encrypted with Office 365 Message Encryption, you could view the encrypted message only by using a Microsoft account. Now, with the addition of the One-Time Passcode capability, you can view an encrypted message you receive without having to sign in with a Microsoft account. If you have a Microsoft account, you now have the option to view an encrypted message by selecting one-time passcode instead of signing in with your account.

One-Time Passcode 1

You can now choose the option to view encrypted messages using one-time passcode, even if you have a Microsoft account.

If you do not have a Microsoft account, you have the option to access the encrypted message using a one-time passcode in addition to the option of creating a Microsoft account.

One-Time Passcode 2

If you do not have a Microsoft account, you can now choose the option to view encrypted messages using one-time passcode.

As soon as you select the option to use one-time passcode, we send a passcode in an email message to your inbox.

One-Time Passcode 3

We send the one-time passcode to your mailbox.

Once the selection has been made, you are notified that that a passcode has been sent for you to retrieve. You can enter the passcode on the Office 365 Message Encryption Portal page, as shown below.

One-Time Passcode 4

You will be asked to enter the corresponding one-time passcode to view the encrypted email.

When the passcode is entered correctly, you can see the encrypted email in plain text in the familiar Outlook Web App user interface. You can then choose to reply to the message or forward it. All responses you make  will be encrypted.

We hope you will leverage this new capability, and we look forward to bringing new features from the world of encryption soon.

—Shobhit Sahay

Frequently asked questions

Q. When will One-Time Passcode be available in my tenant?

A. This capability is now available to all customer with Office 365 Message Encryption.  Note that Office 365 E3 subscriptions include Office 365 Message Encryption, and it can also be purchased standalone as part of Microsoft Azure Rights Management.

Q. What further features are planned for Office 365 Message Encryption?

A.We have a lot of new features planned for Office 365 Message Encryption, starting with new apps for iOS and Android apps for recipients. The complete list of features can be tracked in the Office 365 Roadmap. More details will be provided closer to release dates.

Q. Where can I read more about this new functionality?

A. Read the how to use one-time passcode to view an encrypted message article on TechNet to learn more about this new functionality.