Member Article

4 aspects to look before you choose secure email service   

“If your device is encrypted, then all your data is gobbledygook, and without any PIN it is nugatory.”

If you think I’m speaking any special language, then I’m not. 76% of you readers might have understood what I meant to say. For the rest, it means that data in an encrypted device is safe and cannot be opened without the correct PIN. I have always believed that email is definitely an important service we use on the online platform. People choose to encrypt their phones and laptops for security, but they forget to secure email service. When asked, many don’t have answers to it.

If you think deeply about it, apart from being a communication port, your email account is the hub to most of your online accounts. An unsecured email account means a complete exposure to your privacy which is a shining beacon to hackers. All your online accounts, online purchases, the messages shared between you and your relatives and colleagues and your personal details are like an open book to them.

I won’t say that you don’t care about these. As you are reading this, it is the proof that you take this matter seriously. What you need to know are the aspects for choosing a secure email service.

1. Logs

It is essential that you know about your logged in activities which can be either for a day or for a year. Usually, servers do store few of your information like IP address and the time of access. These information includes your virtual fingerprint and your browser type. It is suggested to look for an email service which has a shorter log duration as well as does minimal logging.

2. Encryption

Most of the email services will encrypt the connection between you and your email server with the help of TSL/SSL. Although they do this, not everyone secures the messages on the server. You can opt for Ciphr Mail which is a heightened secure mail gateway. The security profile is of ECC (Elliptic curve cryptography) which has backward compatibility for the older version of PGP email. This compatibility is for that time when the ECC key hasn’t been detected.

3. IP stripping

Your IP address gets embedded into your email each time when you send a message. Before heading for an email service, check whether it strips the IP address or not from your email header.

4. Aliases

Aliases are distinct email addresses which automatically forwards your emails to your main address. Opting for it is helpful as it limits the extent of your virtual footprint on the web making your emails difficult to be tracked.

Additional info

As stated earlier, you can use Ciphr Mail as it secures all your message content, attachments, address book contact in a secured sandbox container which your device doesn’t have direct access.

These are some of the aspects which you should definitely remember to look for. In order to lessen your burden, you can take professional help or encryption apps which are offered by few noteworthy companies. These softwares see through all these aspects thereby providing you with a secure email service. I hope that this information came to your help and you may utilise them to make your email services safer.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by MinhVo .