Your Business email: Who Do you Trust
58woodwright2007
What email really is
Email messages are files sent between two correspondents. Harry sends Sally an email message. Harry creates the message on his local computer or a webpage. First, let's look at the oldest method, directly on a local computer. Harry opens up an email client, such as Outlook Express, Thunderbird or Eudora, to name a few examples. He types the message in and hits the send button. Assuming all goes well, here's what happens:
The message is saved in a file on Harry's computer. Note that unless he deletes it or configures his client to not do this, the message will stay on the computer. It will be there if the computer is a laptop and gets stolen and it will be there for anyone who hacks into the computer from afar.
The message also is sent to a server specified in the configuration of the email client. That server may do a number of things, but in most cases it will forward the message to some other computer somewhere else, possibly the computer of Sally's mail service provider. In between the two providers, the mail may transit through unkown areas and be intercepted by unknown parties.
On either end, Harry's or Sally's providers will employ a large number of people, many of whom have the ability to look at arbitrary messages. So up to now, we have at least a few human beings you've never met that could be looking at your mail.
Now let's look at the webmail systems like Hotmail, Google and Yahoo. Again, you compose the message, it gets sent to a server, this time over the web. The new element here is that thre are millions of users of these services and presumably some are hacking away daily, trying to break into the servers. I saw, in the early days of MSN, people breaking in to the chat room daily with the name "Bill Gates".
Where is email stored?
The messages are stored as files or entries in a database either on your local computer or on a server like Google, Hotmail or Yahoo. WHat if someone breaks into one of those webmail service providers? Although every effort is made to avoid this, I do not see how anyone could say "impossible", so you can only reflect on the chances and make a decision based on your own evaluation.
I would never send or store email that was of life or death importance (like something potentially usable by a stalker) without encrypting it. Why you should encrypt was also the subject of another page,
I will try to compose a simple text on how to use encryption "real soon now".
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Comments
"the best general rule for email is not to write anything that you wouldn't want made public" is very good advice! But barring that, I'm surprised there is no effort, or very little effort given to making it extremely easy to protect at least business email.
For example, there hasn't been an idiot-proof way to encrypt mail with what must be the most used client, Outlook Express (free with all Windows machines). My customers have no clue as to how to encrypt in the Windows universe. On the other hand, there are plugins for a client like Thunderbird that make it a no-brainer, once you get the thing installed an configured.
The plugin for GMail is here: http://getfiregpg.org
This works beautifully. However you do need to install GPG or PGP on your computer to use it. Again, I'll try to post a tutorial at some point soon.
Eric Graudins says:
14 months ago
You've covered some excellent points in this hub, Randulo.
Email was never intended as a secure means of communication.
It was created in more genteel times when the boffins who could created didn't even dream that anyone would attempt to forge email header information, and therefore included no protection against this. And that's why there is so much SPAM these days.
Encryption will certainly make email more secure, but as it involves a bit more complexity not many people are bothered to use it.
I've found that the best general rule for email is not to write anything that you wouldn't want made public.