As organizations continue to digitize workflows and move away from paper-based systems, traditional fax machines are increasingly being replaced by electronic faxing, also known as eFax. But what exactly is electronic faxing—and how does it compare in terms of security?
What is Electronic Faxing?
Electronic faxing, digital fax, or eFax is the evolution of traditional faxing to the internet. Instead of using a physical fax machine and phone line, electronic faxing allows users to send and receive faxes over the internet using email, web portals, or integrated applications. This method eliminates the need for paper, toner, and outdated hardware, making faxing more accessible and cost-effective.
With electronic faxing, documents can be transmitted from desktops, mobile devices, or multifunction printers (MFPs) to any fax number—without compromising the familiar workflow many organizations rely on. It’s particularly useful in industries where faxing is still a standard method of communication, such as healthcare, finance, and government.
How Does Electronic Faxing Work?
Most electronic fax solutions digitize the sending and receiving process through:
- Email-to-fax and fax-to-email: Users send an email with an attachment, which is then converted and delivered to another electronic fax system or a traditional fax machine.
- Web portals and applications: Users can log into a secure portal to manage faxes.
- API integrations: Electronic faxing can be embedded into existing systems like electronic health records (EHR), document management systems, or enterprise content management (ECM) platforms.
Is Electronic Faxing Secure? 
Security is a top concern when transmitting sensitive documents—and it’s one of the areas where not all electronic fax solutions are created equal. Many cloud-based fax services use Transport Layer Security (TLS), but this only protects data in transit—not at rest or throughout its entire lifecycle.
ETHERFAX offers electronic faxing that leads the industry in security and compliance with:
1. End-to-End Encryption
ETHERFAX utilizes advanced encryption throughout the entire transmission process—not just during transport. Documents are encrypted from the moment they leave your system until they reach their destination, ensuring full confidentiality.
2. Reduce Reliance on Fax Boards and Phone Lines
By reducing reliance on traditional fax infrastructure such as fax boards and phone lines, ETHERFAX helps minimize vulnerable entry points that can be exploited by bad actors. When both endpoints are connected through ETHERFAX, documents are transmitted entirely within ETHERFAX’s secure, cloud-based network—bypassing the public telephone network to enable end-to-end encryption and nearly-instant delivery.
In cases where only one endpoint is ETHERFAX-enabled, transmissions may still traverse traditional phone lines, but organizations can still benefit from enhanced security and reliability on the ETHERFAX-connected side of the exchange.
3. Compliance with Industry Regulations
ETHERFAX services operate in a HIPAA and SOC 2® compliant environment that is both HITRUST CSF® and PCI DSS certified—providing the highest levels of security for industries with strict data protection and privacy requirements.
4. High Availability and Redundancy
With a globally distributed, cloud-native architecture, ETHERFAX ensures that your faxes are delivered reliably and without delays—even during outages or spikes in traffic.
Unlike traditional telephony solutions, where achieving redundancy often requires contracting with multiple carriers and maintaining duplicate infrastructure, ETHERFAX provides built-in resilience through automatic traffic rerouting. In the event of a failure, regional disruption, or carrier outage, ETHERFAX can seamlessly shift transmission traffic to alternate, geographically dispersed data centers—eliminating single points of failure and reducing the need for costly backup systems. This dynamic rerouting capability supports disaster recovery, maintains uptime, and ensures critical communications are always delivered securely and efficiently.
5. Advanced Monitoring and Audit Trails
Every electronic fax transmission is logged and tracked, allowing administrators to audit activity and maintain full visibility into fax operations.
Why Organizations Choose ETHERFAX 
In an era of increasing cyber threats and tightening regulations, organizations can’t afford to rely on outdated or minimally secured fax services. ETHERFAX offers a modern, secure, and highly scalable electronic faxing solution that meets the needs of today’s digital-first environments.
Whether you’re looking to modernize legacy systems, enable hybrid workflows, or simply enhance data protection—ETHERFAX has you covered.
Ready to make the switch to electronic faxing?
Contact us to learn how digital fax can streamline your document exchange while ensuring maximum security and compliance.