{"id":3925,"date":"2020-01-22T14:13:14","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T05:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/personal-information-encryption-and-the-relocation-process\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T11:34:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:34:40","slug":"personal-information-encryption-and-the-relocation-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/personal-information-encryption-and-the-relocation-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Information, Encryption, and the Relocation Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

To start, a reminder that\u00a0Japan Info Swap\u00a0is a part of\u00a0The H&R Group<\/a>, which provides a wide range of real estate, relocation, staffing, and life-enrichment service in Japan. This blog was created to help communicate the information, knowledge, and expert advice of the H&R Group family of companies to their clients.<\/p>\n

The relocation process requires varying degrees of personal information, from immigration documents to housing contracts or driver’s licenses, so we have a lot on hand during our client’s relocation process, and our clients provided all of it to us, usually by email<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a result, we are understandably a bit paranoid about how this information is sent, stored, and eventually deleted.\u00a0 We can do a lot on our end. Still, we would feel a whole lot better if we could start on our client’s end instead and accomplish our work with full end-to-end encryption of the\u00a0personal information essential to completing the services initiated to us by our clients.<\/p>\n

What is Encryption?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Encryption changes information in such a way as to make it unreadable without a “key” that allows the information to be put back into its original, readable form.\u00a0\u00a0Encryption\u00a0allows us to securely protect data and ensure that only authorized parties will have access to it.<\/p>\n

We strongly recommend that our clients take the initiative and learn how to encrypt documents before sending them.\u00a0 It is easier than one might think, and it is our sincere hope that ancillary to their relocation our clients learn better personal data security habits that will protect them long after they have returned from Japan and forgotten about us.<\/p>\n

Encryption Sounds Hard…\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You might think so, but it is pretty simple to do. The hardest part is securely communicating the password; more on that later.\u00a0 To begin with,\u00a0encrypting data is easily done using a \u201cdocument open password,\u201d which requires a user to type a password to open the document. We recommend three options that are probably installed on your computer, at least your office computer, already.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Microsoft Word, Excel<\/li>\n
  2. Adobe Acrobat (not reader)<\/li>\n
  3. 7-Zip<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    *Please not that “Microsoft passwords are not effective” is a common refrain, and true, if you are referring to edit or print passwords, which are notorious, but a “document open password” is different, and a powerful tool if used correctly with a strong password…more on that later.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    Rather than explaining how to add a document open password in each platform, we will link to the explanations that these companies (or other entities) already offer for these software product’s encryption components.\u00a0 In short all you need is find the right pull-down or other menu item and enter a password, and that isn’t much of an oversimplification.<\/p>\n

    Microsoft Encryption<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Office 2016 and 2013 provide for AES-256 encryption, which is very secure if a strong password is used. To encrypt a document using Microsoft Word or Excel, follow the instructions below.<\/p>\n