HIN Mail enables HIN members to communicate securely by e-mail with recipients outside the HIN community while maintaining compliance with data protection regulations. A recipient can also reply securely to the e-mail received.

Possible use cases for HIN Mail are:

• Transmitting sensitive information from a doctor or hospital to patients in Switzerland and in other countries.
• Sending discharge reports from a hospital to a family doctor
• Exchanging confidential information with research partners in Switzerland and in other countries
• Sending payslips to employees

Further information on secure e-mail communication and its importance can be found on the page:
HIN and data protection (in German, French or Italian).

The sender of an HIN e-mail marks the e-mail with «(Confidential)» in the subject line. The recipient is only able to open and read the e-mail after verified authentication with a mobile phone number and SMS code. If they use the option to remember the device used, no further authentication process using an SMS code is required in order to read future HIN e-mails. It is also possible to reply to an HIN e-mail in encrypted form.

When you open an HIN e-mail for the first time, you first need to register. Follow the instructions.

• You can find step-by-step instructions on our website
• You can also find instructions in our video 

When you first registered for HIN Mail, did you tick the box «Remember this device and open future e-mails immediately»? If so, you can click on the «Read the encrypted message» link in the HIN e-mail and a new page with the e-mail content will open directly.

If you did not tick the box «Remember this device and open future e-mails immediately», you need to start the authentication process by re-entering your mobile number and requesting an SMS code. Here, you again have the option of HIN remembering your authentication on the device used («Trust device” option) in order to »speed up the login process for future e-mails. To do this, tick the box «Remember this device and open future e-mails immediately».

If you believe that you have received an HIN e-mail to an incorrect e-mail address, please contact the sender to update your e-mail address and have the e-mail resent to you.

If you tick the box «Remember this device and open future e-mails immediately», you allow HIN to trust your device (e.g. smartphone, laptop) in future («Trust device» option). A cookie is then stored on the corresponding device, which enables you to read future e-mails without receiving an SMS code (two-factor authentication). 

If you do not tick the corresponding box, this means that HIN should not trust your device for future HIN mails («Do not trust device» option). If you receive another HIN e-mail at a later date, you will need to follow the two-factor authentication process again using an SMS code in order to read the e-mail.

Have you allowed HIN to remember your device and open future HIN e-mails without a new authentication process (ticked «Remember this device and open future e-mails immediately») and would like to undo this? Open any HIN e-mail that you have received in the past by clicking on «Read the encrypted message». Now log out of HIN Mail by clicking on the cogwheel symbol (settings) at the top right and then on «Logout». You will return to the initial two-factor authentication page. Enter your mobile phone number. In the next step, you again have the choice of ticking the box «Remember this device and open future e-mails immediately» («Trust device» option) or not («Do not trust device» option).

HIN e-mails are no longer accessible after 30 days; this is 

• to reduce the window of opportunity for malicious actors to intercept links and information
• to ensure that e-mails containing personal data are not kept longer than necessary
• to respect the principle of data minimisation.

If you would like to reply to an HIN e-mail in encrypted form after reading it, click on the «Reply» button in the open message. If you would like to receive a copy of your reply, tick the box «Send a copy to myself».

HIN e-mails can only be retrieved for 30 days. After this period, the encrypted e-mail is no longer accessible. Please contact the sender so that they can resend the e-mail to you.

Although you can forward an HIN e-mail, its content will not be accessible to the additional recipient. If this recipient tries to open the forwarded HIN e-mail, they receive an error message. The reason is this: as the content of the HIN e-mail is only intended for the person originally specified, two-factor authentication ensures that forwarded e-mails cannot be read.

You can save the content of an HIN e-mail unencrypted on your computer and then send it as an attachment to an e-mail from your usual e-mail program. Please note that e-mails forwarded in this way are not encrypted when they are sent.

You have two options for saving the content of an HIN e-mail:

1. You can save the content as an unencrypted e-mail on your computer and open it in your e-mail program.
2. You can save the HIN e-mail as a PDF on your computer. To do this, select «Download e-mail as PDF».

If you are a registered user and have ticked the box «Remember this device and open future e-mails immediately» in the past, you have two options for updating your phone number:

• Log in to HIN Mail by clicking on «Read the encrypted message» in any HIN e-mail. Go to the settings button (cogwheel symbol) at the top right and follow the instructions under «Change phone number».
• Visit the HIN support page and click on the «Change phone number» link.

If you are a registered user but have not ticked the box «Remember this device and open future e-mails immediately», click on the «Read the encrypted message» button in any HIN e-mail. On the next page, click on «Do you have a new phone number?» to start the process of updating your phone number.

If you have problems with the change phone number process, please contact HIN Support.

• By e-mail: hinmail.support@hin.ch
• Telephone: 058 670 48 69
• International: +41 58 670 48 69

1. Check that you have entered your mobile number correctly and click on «Send».
   Make sure that the mobile phone provider (e.g. Swisscom, Salt, UPC or Sunrise) has not blocked the receipt of messages from premium or value-added services.
2. Click on «Request a new SMS code» to receive a new SMS code.
3. Click on the link «Do you have a new phone number?» to update your mobile number and receive an SMS code.

If you have tried all of the above options and still not received an SMS code, please contact HIN Support.

• By e-mail: hinmail.support@hin.ch
• Telephone: 058 670 48 69
• International: +41 58 670 48 69

In the process of opening an e-mail, go back to the previous page and enter your mobile number correctly.

A member of the HIN community (e.g. a doctor, medical practice or hospital) would like to send you confidential information. To ensure this is protected during transmission and cannot be intercepted by unauthorised third parties, it is sent to you in encrypted form via HIN Mail. The HIN e-mail serves as a notification that an encrypted message has been sent to you.

This is not possible. To access an encrypted HIN e-mail, you must enter a mobile number, as this service only works with two-factor authentication.

E-mails sent with HIN Mail can sometimes end up in the spam folder. Please check whether the e-mail has been received there.

Yes. To do this, open an encrypted e-mail that you have received. Click on «Reply» below the e-mail content. This process can be repeated as often as required.

To open an HIN e-mail, HIN supports the two most recent versions of Chrome, Safari and Firefox. If you have problems opening an HIN e-mail in the browsers mentioned, please update the version of your browser and try again.

If the problem persists, please contact HIN Support.

• By e-mail: hinmail.support@hin.ch
• Telephone: 058 670 48 69
• International: +41 58 670 48 69

If you are logged in to HIN Mail, click on the settings button (cogwheel symbol) at the top right and then on «Logout». Alternatively, close your browser completely. Please note: If you only close the corresponding tab, but not the browser, you will not be logged out of HIN Mail. 

HIN Mail allows members of the HIN community to send encrypted e-mails to people outside the HIN community. This enables secure communication while maintaining compliance with data protection regulations, even with people who do not use HIN, for example with patients, employees or partners. 

Our video explains quickly and simply how it works

Important:
Users of an HIN Mail Gateway (MGW) must activate HIN Mail in their MGW. Please contact the administrator of your HIN Mail Gateway to do this.

How to send an encrypted e-mail to recipients outside the HIN community:

1. Write an e-mail
Compose the e-mail from your HIN e-mail address as usual in your preferred e-mail program. You can also address the e-mail to multiple recipients (including Cc and Bcc).

2. Mark the e-mail as «Confidential»

• Microsoft Outlook
  Under «Tags», select the «Confidential» level in the «Privacy settings» or add «(Confidential)» at the end of the subject line.
• All other e-mail programs (including HIN Webmail)
  Add «(Confidential)» at the end of the subject line.

3. Send the e-mail
Send the e-mail as usual. It is now transmitted to the recipient in encrypted form via HIN Mail.

If you would like to send sensitive data to a recipient but are not sure whether they are an HIN member, it is best to add «(confidential)» at the end of your subject line. The e-mail is then automatically sent in encrypted form, regardless of whether the recipient uses HIN or not. Alternatively, you can search for all HIN members at dir.hin.ch.

The maximum size for attachments in e-mails to recipients outside the HIN community is 10 MB.

How to activate the read confirmation for HIN e-mails:

• In Outlook:
  Compose your e-mail as usual with HIN Mail. Then activate the «Request read receipt» setting in the «Options» tab.
• In HIN Webmail:
  Compose your e-mail as usual with HIN Mail. Click on «Options» and select «Request read receipt».

If you activate delivery confirmations, a read confirmation report is automatically triggered as soon as the recipient has decrypted your e-mail. As the recipient cannot decide themselves whether to send a confirmation or not, this delivery method is comparable to sending a registered letter by post.