Secure Email Providers: Why are They Important?
A short guide about secure email providers: How to secure your data with them? Things to consider when selecting a secure email provider.
So you’re sick of getting spam, and phishing emails and you want a way to stop them. Well, I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to learn that “secure email” is the solution! But what is it and how does it work?
Just about every individual, business, and government agency has at least one address. However, traditional emails have some major faults that prevent them from being a completely secure form of communication. Thanks to rising concerns about internet security, “secure email” providers have gained popularity.
Secure email providers encrypt your emails, so only you and the recipient can read them. With these services, messages are faster to send and help keep your communications safe from hackers.
What is Email encryption and why is it important?
Email encryption is a technique that allows you to send and receive emails in an encrypted format. It means that only the intended recipient can read the messages, even if they are intercepted.
Email is one of the most common forms of communication, but it’s also one of the least secure. When you send an email you don’t know who will be reading it and what they’ll do with that information once they have it. If you’re sending sensitive data or important personal information, it’s best to protect it as much as possible.
Email encryption works by using algorithms to convert messages into code before they’re sent out over the internet. This code can only be unlocked with a key — which may be stored on your computer or phone or in another place entirely — but without this key it’s impossible for any third party to access your emails.
Encryption keeps your data safe from hackers and spies who might try to access your communications illegally, but there are other benefits too:
You can send confidential information without worrying about someone intercepting it.
If your email provider doesn’t have good security measures in place then hackers could still gain access to your account and read all of your messages — but with encryption, this isn’t possible.
Protect your privacy with secure email providers
Secure email providers encrypt messages in transit, making them unreadable to anyone who intercepts them. They also provide end-to-end encryption, meaning only the sender and recipient can read the message.
Most services offer two types of encryption: Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL). TLS is used by most popular web browsers and by most e-mail providers to encrypt connections between your computer and the server. SSL is used for securing data as it travels between servers or when it is stored on servers that aren’t directly connected to the Internet.
In addition to setting up individual accounts with secure email providers, you can also use open source technologies such as PGP encryption or OpenKeychain to encrypt your messages on any platform.
If you’re looking for a secure email provider, there are a few things you should consider.
First, you’ll want to make sure your provider is using end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption means that only the sender and receiver have the keys to read an email message. This prevents hackers from intercepting your messages while they’re in transit from your computer to the recipient’s computer.
Second, look for secure email providers that encrypt data at rest — meaning they don’t store unencrypted copies of messages on their servers. This prevents hackers from accessing your emails even if they do manage to break into your inbox.
Finally, make sure the service has a good track record when it comes to legal requests for data access and compliance with government surveillance programs like PRISM or ECHELON
Secure Email Providers
Secure email providers are often overlooked in the business world. Some companies use insecure email providers and don’t even realize it! Here are a list of the top secure email providers today that should fit your needs.
Proton mail
Proton Mail is a secure email service that’s based in Switzerland. This country has a long history of protecting privacy and freedom of speech, so it’s a good place to host your email if you want to keep your information safe. Proton mail also has an end-to-end encryption feature that will protect your emails from being viewed by anyone else, including Proton Mail itself. This feature is based on OpenPGP (Pretty Good Privacy), which is an open standard for email encryption.
In addition to being based in a country with strong privacy laws, Proton Mail also uses zero-knowledge encryption (ZKP) technology to protect your data. ZKP is a process where the company never has access to its users’ keys or plain text messages. Instead, all encryption and decryption happen automatically inside of their servers so that nobody can decrypt your messages without having access to your private key.
If you are looking for an email provider that respects your privacy and offers strong security features, then Proton Mail may be worth considering.
MailBox
The mailbox.org email service offers a range of security features, including encryption, two-factor authentication, etc.
The platform was developed with security in mind, so it offers several layers of protection including enhanced encryption methods, secure connections (SSL/TLS), and password hashing techniques that prevent unauthorized access from third parties like hackers or government agencies. They also provide integrated PGP support if you want to encrypt your emails manually.
You can also check the validity of any message using the SPF/DMARC protocol which helps determine whether an email has been sent from an authorized domain or not. This feature prevents spoofing attempts by malicious entities who try to impersonate legitimate brands by sending out phishing emails with forged sender addresses so they can steal sensitive data such as login credentials or credit card numbers from unsuspecting victims who reply back to their messages.
In addition to the security measures it takes to protect its users’ data, mailbox.org also provides an optional secure proxy service (for an additional fee) that encrypts all traffic between the user’s computer and mailbox.org’s servers. This means that even if someone were to intercept your emails while they’re in transit, they wouldn’t be able to read them without having access to your private key — which only you should have access to in order to decrypt the information contained in your messages.
Tutanota
Tutanota is an opensource, end-to-end encrypted email service. It uses the same algorithms as PGP, but it adds an extra layer of security by combining symmetric and asymmetric keys.
Symmetric Encryption
Tutanota uses AES encryption, which stands for Advanced Encryption Standard. This is a 128-bit form of encryption that can be used with any type of data. The big advantage of this type of encryption is that it’s fast and efficient — so efficient that it’s been approved by the U.S. government for use in protecting classified information up to Top Secret levels.
Asymmetric Encryption
In addition to AES, Tutanota also uses RSA encryption — or Rivest-Shamir-Adleman — which is another well-known form of public key cryptography (also known as asymmetric cryptography). The advantage of this method is that it allows people who don’t know each other to communicate securely over an open network (like the Internet).
Conclusion
In the age of hackers, identity thieves, and massive data breaches, having a secure email provider to rely on is vital. Don’t expose yourself to unnecessary risk by using an unsecured email provider.
The bottom line is that you shouldn’t feel as though you have to sacrifice your email security for ease of use. There are plenty of secure online email providers available, and all it takes is a little bit of research and some patience to find one that’s right for you. Good luck, and don’t be afraid to take a few extra precautions when writing emails in this age of digital communication.
