Posted by Leslie_Mo on 11/19/12 12:08pm
Msg #444006

Service Link - encrypting documents through Acrobat XI

How many of you received this letter and are willing to purchase this software at a minimum of $140?



Effective immediately.

To comply with current industry regulations in regards to transmission of non-public information. We require our agents to encrypt, securely, all documentation that contains borrower’s personal information which would include the closing document packages. Below is a link that will take you to Adobe where the necessary program (Acrobat XI Standard) can be purchased/downloaded for you to encrypt documents that are sent back to ServiceLink via email.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatstandard

As a part of encrypting the documents using Adobe you will have to create a password for the recipient to utilize in order to view the file. Here is a an outline of ServiceLink Password requirements:

• All passwords used for ServiceLink systems shall:
o Be a minimum of 8 characters.
o Have a combination of upper and lower case characters.
o Have both alphabetic and numeric characters
o Contain at least one symbol that is not part of the 26 letter alphabet.
o Contain no more than 2 consecutive letters of the associated username.
o Be changed at a minimum of every 90 days; 30 days for Admin level users.
o Not be same as any of the last 10 passwords used.
o First time passwords must be unique and changed upon first login.

If you choose the route of emailing secured back to ServiceLink. Here is the email address to our post-close documentation area that secured emailed documents should be sent.
[e-mail address]

If you choose to fax back, please utilized these fax numbers:

800-798-0479 – (Primary)
888-343-1897- (Primary)
888-343-1879 – (Backup

Failure to comply with this procedure regarding encryption of emailed documentation will result in deactivation from ServiceLink's Closing Agent network.

If there are any questions regarding this policy please call 888.381.7381 ext. 23769 Craig Robinson or ext. 23489 Jackie Balser.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation,

ServiceLink Vendor Management



Craig Robinson
Account Executive, Vendor Management
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ServiceLink, FNF’s National Lender Platform
345 Rouser Rd, Building 5 | Coraopolis, PA 15108
(888) 414-6616 x 23769(toll free)
(724) 512-3769 (direct dial)
(412) 310-7909 (cell)

Reply by aanotary on 11/19/12 12:13pm
Msg #444007

here the the real irony- they sent this out including every notary in the cc. I have the emails of over 500 notaries from around the county & they have mine. When I sent an email back to SL telling them I did not appreciate everyone having my email- their reply " there is no personal information"??

Reply by ToniK on 11/19/12 1:19pm
Msg #444021

Ill be faxing...

Yup got that email and all those notaries emails.

Reply by Yoli/CA on 11/19/12 12:17pm
Msg #444010

Received email.

Even though I get very good fees from ServiceLink (Friday night's refi was $250), I will not buy an additional program for something my PaperPort program already does.

I'll call Craig and discuss and if my program isn't compatible, guess I'll use their fax numbers.

Reply by CentralNY on 11/19/12 12:20pm
Msg #444011

I will use MaxEmail to fax to them n/m

Reply by Lee/AR on 11/19/12 12:21pm
Msg #444012

Got it. Not happening...however someone had a suggestion

and must have hit 'reply all' because I received the following:

"There are much less expensive options for adding a password to a PDF file. Try PDF Creator, which is a print driver, where you can secure the document being printed into a PDF file with a password of your choosing that will meet the required standards."

Don't know; haven't tried it, but surely will and will NOT spend $140 to 'comply'. Makes me wonder what they're smo...uh...thinking.

Reply by VT_Syrup on 11/19/12 12:28pm
Msg #444015

Re: Got it. Not happening...however someone had a suggestion

If you wanted to try PDF Creator, be sure to look at the result with Adobe Reader and see if the password works as expected. I don't have PDF Creator, so I haven't tested it.

Reply by VT_Syrup on 11/19/12 12:37pm
Msg #444018

I have not worked for ServiceLink, and so didn't get the message. But I wouldn't spend $140 for a program as a result of a badly thought out message from someone who obviously doesn't get it.

First, the password guidelines were obviously copied from some type of website or in-house computer network guideline, and simply don't apply to a one-off transmission of a PDF. The notary might use then as inspiration for the notary's password practices, but inevitably different notaries will be inspired in different directions.

Second, there is no discussion of how the chosen password is to be communicated to ServiceLink.

Third, each of us has developed a workflow for creating some kind of images with our scanning equipment. To satisfy ServiceLink's insistence on Acrobat XI, we would have to try to develop a new workflow; considering the great number of different scanners in use, who knows how well that will work?

Reply by Ilene C. Seidel on 11/19/12 3:45pm
Msg #444032

PDF Redirect V2 it's free and I have no problems with SL or NL using this program.

Reply by Jessica Ward on 11/20/12 12:39am
Msg #444080

I understand the need for encryption of email, but....

What are you supposed to do about the password?

Every day I get encrypted emails with the password right in them.

What the %*)#% is the point of that? If the email is going to be intercepted, the password will be intercepted with it, will it not?

My preference would be something akin to Inspector Gadget's "this message will self destruct."

If in 24 (or 12) hours, the PDF was scrambled, that would be awesome--that way if an email account was hacked or something the damage would be minimized.

But I still would like to know what the devil we're supposed to do with the password for the encrypted email. I close for SL all the time, but just TRY and reach someone on the phone over there.... it's not easy!

Reply by CarolF/NC on 11/19/12 5:27pm
Msg #444039

Sorry but I'm laughing mybo...

That they would share all your emails and some of the responses. No SL work here, but really this is too much.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/19/12 7:28pm
Msg #444057

roflmao, too!

The very idea that they think this will work out just fine is hilarious to me.

<<Laughing really, really loud!>>

Reply by Claudine Osborne on 11/19/12 9:58pm
Msg #444071

Re: roflmao, too!

Well..Maybe we can forget to send them the password and let them sit and wait and wait and wait on the phone trying to reach us for a change..I like that idea!

Reply by James Powell on 11/20/12 7:34am
Msg #444093

It appears that ServiceLink does not know the difference between encryption and protection.

Password protection can be easily defeated. There are ways to simply read the data directly, bypassing the password.

The standard for the industry is that the information should be encrypted, so that it cannot be read without the proper key. The data cannot be read directly.

First, I am surprised that anyone is sending mortgage information, especially documents for signing and signed documents 'in the clear'. This is extremely dangerous as an interception of the email at any point would open the sender up to litigation under current US law.

The usual solution is to use an encrypted file sharing service. The file is encrypted and uploaded to a secure server. The recipient receives an email with a link to the file to retrieve it. In the best cases, a separate login/password is needed to access the site so there is another level of security involved. If it a one-off, that login/password would be sent separately. If it is an ongoing relationship, then the login/password can be used for multiple files.

Since the file is on a server, it can be deleted as soon as the recipient confirms receipt. There are some services taht allow a set time limit to be placed, after which the file is automatically deleted.

Reply by VT_Syrup on 11/20/12 11:08am
Msg #444122

As far as I know, PDF passwords have always been used for true encryption (of course, over the years, the encryption has gotten better; I don't know if it was ever easy to break). There is another method of encryption, using digital certificates, which should be equally good with recent versions. These methods control changing gibberish into understandable text and images.

Once the information is unscrambled, the Adobe software may have limits set on what a user may be able to do with it, such as save it, print it, or cut-and-paste it. These limitations are enforced by the Adobe software and a different brand of software might not respect the limits.

Adobe has an article: http://blogs.adobe.com/security/2011/08/pdf-encryption-options.html

Wikipedia has an article section: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format#Security_and_signatures

Some of the early releases of word processors had password-based encryption schemes that could be busted easily. That may have created the reputation of password-protected documents being weak.

Reply by James Powell on 11/21/12 7:21am
Msg #444238

It appears that Acrobat has the ability to encrypt when the pdf is created. Encryption is a separate step, which is then controlled through a password.

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/acrobat/pro/using/WSD012A4E1-51D1-4bcd-BA9F-EF03C6F20BB6.html