How do I send files securely to others at the university through PEAR?

Overview

The University of Illinois has provided an easy-to-use tool that uses email notifications along with a website that allows you to securely send files to anyone with a University of Illinois Enterprise ID and password. That includes everyone at any campus of the University. These days, faculty and staff must have them for Positive Time Reporting and other administrative tasks, and students use them for registration. The tool is called PEAR, Protected E-Mail Attachment Repository Application.

Using PEAR

If the person that you are trying to send a file to does not have a University of Illinois Enterprise ID, then you will need to find an alternative secure means of sending sensitive data.

PEAR works like a Web email client, and has 10MB limits per attachment file. You can break an attachment in 9.5 MB pieces using the service 7-zip (Open Source, runs on Windows, Macs, and other OSes), or similar services.

It has been determined that PEAR is FERPA compliant so FERPA data can be transmitted via PEAR. However, PEAR is not yet HIPAA compliant so HIPAA data should not be transmitted using PEAR.

Send files

1. Log into the: PEAR Web page using your Enterprise ID and password.
2. Click New Message.
3. Type the email address of the person you want to send the file(s) to in the box at the top and click QuickAdd.
4. Fill in the Subject: and Body: of the message.
5. Click Choose File to select a file to be attached to the message. Repeat if necessary.
6. Click Send Message.

Receive Files

PEAR will send an email message to your recipients including a link to retrieve the files. Click on the link, log in with your Enterprise ID and password, and your message and files will be there.