{"id":199527,"date":"2021-03-11T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T06:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/what-is-secure-email-and-should-you-switch\/"},"modified":"2021-03-11T09:40:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T06:40:00","slug":"what-is-secure-email-and-should-you-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-secure-email-and-should-you-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"#What Is Secure Email, and Should You Switch?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2924b154725\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2924b154725\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-secure-email-and-should-you-switch\/#What_Is_Secure_Encrypted_Email\" >What Is Secure, Encrypted Email?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-secure-email-and-should-you-switch\/#How_Do_Secure_Email_Providers_Protect_You\" >How Do Secure Email Providers Protect You?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-secure-email-and-should-you-switch\/#Which_Secure_Email_Service_Is_the_Best\" >Which Secure Email Service Is the Best?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-secure-email-and-should-you-switch\/#Do_You_Need_a_Secure_Email_Provider\" >Do You Need a Secure Email Provider?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#What Is Secure Email, and Should You Switch?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-717254 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/email-message-and-lock.jpg\" alt=\"A padlock and an envelope symbolizing an email message.\" width=\"650\" height=\"300\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/envelope-symbol-lock-concept-email-security-64499074\" data-credittext=\"Feng Yu\/Shutterstock.com\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/envelope-symbol-lock-concept-email-security-64499074\">Feng Yu\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Email was invented in 1971 and has changed very little since then. In that time, it\u2019s managed to become a major security risk to individuals, governments, and private companies around the world. This might explain the rising popularity of so-called \u201csecure email\u201d providers.<\/p>\n<p>So what exactly makes secure email different from regular email?<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Is_Secure_Encrypted_Email\"><\/span>What Is Secure, Encrypted Email?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Secure email is essentially regular email with a few security enhancements on top. The <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> behind the scenes is ultimately the same, which means that you already know how to use a secure email provider. You still send messages to named addresses with an @ and a domain, and you still get plenty of spam.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, anyone can call themselves a secure email provider. There\u2019s no dictionary definition, and most major email providers like Gmail and Outlook would also consider themselves \u201csecure\u201d despite falling short of the mark.<\/p>\n<p>Most providers who use the term to describe their service go much further than requiring a strong password or using two-factor authentication. Security, in this sense, isn\u2019t only about stopping someone from gaining access to your account, it\u2019s also about keeping your data and identity safe.<\/p>\n<p>A truly secure email provider is unable to read your email conversations. They should ideally be located in a jurisdiction that\u2019s not subject to data sharing between intelligence agencies. The technology itself would ideally be built on open standards for a \u201ccrowdsourced\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach to security. The service shouldn\u2019t profile you, serve personalized ads, or log metadata.<\/p>\n<p>This is why Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and most other free, mainstream email providers are not regarded as being truly secure. A secure email provider is \u201cbetter\u201d than Gmail in terms of data security, but you will miss out on Google\u2019s features and deep integrations. Let your priorities decide which is the better option.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Do_Secure_Email_Providers_Protect_You\"><\/span>How Do Secure Email Providers Protect You?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>End-to-end encryption is essential in building a truly secure email system. While services like Gmail encrypt the connection between your computer and the server, any information you send to the server (including the contents of your messages) is not encrypted when it gets there.<\/p>\n<p>Any private conversations (or state secrets) you\u2019re discussing will sit on Google\u2019s servers in an unencrypted format. If that data is stolen, for example, in a data leak, it doesn\u2019t need to be decrypted before it can be read. A secure provider will encrypt data on the server, making it useless to any third parties.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of end-to-end encryption means that email providers can access the contents of your messages, and they\u2019ve used this access in the past. Google previously scanned the contents of Gmail messages for advertising purposes but <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2017\/digital\/news\/google-gmail-ads-emails-1202477321\/\">stopped the practice<\/a> in 2017. The company continued scanning email to power services like (the now-defunct) Google Now. How else will Google\u2019s assistant be able to remind you about the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a> you\u2019ve got coming up?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignnone wp-image-695284 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Gmail-New-Lede-650x300.png\" alt=\"Gmail logo.\" width=\"640\" height=\"295\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Where those servers are located could also impact how that data is treated. As is the case with VPNs, the most secure email services are usually located in remote or historically neutral countries. ProtonMail, for example, is located in Switzerland, where privacy laws are notoriously strict.<\/p>\n<p>Email services located in the United States can be challenged in court to hand over data. The United States is a part of the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Five_Eyes\">Five Eyes<\/a> intelligence alliance, alongside Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Data is routinely passed between different authorities in different jurisdictions under the guise of national security.<\/p>\n<p>The kind of data that is logged alongside your email can also say a lot about you. Metadata is essential \u201cdata about data,\u201d like timestamps on an email or the user agent \u201csignature\u201d left by the browser you are using. You don\u2019t <em>consciously<\/em> create metadata, but it serves as a paper trail for almost anything you do online.<\/p>\n<p>Secure email services will be sure to strip as much metadata out of the email being sent as possible. This makes it harder to trace the origin of a message and further protects the identity of the person sending it.<\/p>\n<p>Some secure email providers also integrate tools like Pretty Good Privacy\u00a0(or PGP for short) into their interfaces. PGP lets you \u201clock\u201d the contents of a message so that it can only be read by someone with the correct private key. When set up correctly, your email will look normal, as legible plain text. If someone without the key were to intercept the message, it would look like gibberish.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, there\u2019s an argument to be made for building security-focused products on open-source software. Source code that has been released to the public can be put to the test in a way that closed source code cannot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <strong><em>What Is End-to-End Encryption, and Why Does It Matter?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Which_Secure_Email_Service_Is_the_Best\"><\/span>Which Secure Email Service Is the Best?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There is no one-size-fits-all approach to secure email. There are many different providers, all offering differing levels of security at a variety of price points.\u00a0Budget is something you will likely have to consider since most services do not offer a generous free option like Gmail or Outlook.com.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-717074\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/protonmail-650x393.png\" alt=\"ProtonMail Inbox\" width=\"640\" height=\"387\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.protonmail.com\">ProtonMail<\/a>\u00a0(free account available) is one of the best-known encrypted providers, and one of the most mature. Data is encrypted on servers located in Switzerland, with the company conducting audits to ensure that users can trust its protections. The service is built on open-source technology, and there\u2019s a dedicated mobile app for iPhone and Android (but no support for default mail apps, unfortunately).<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tutanota.com\">Tutanota<\/a>\u00a0(free account available) is another highly recommended secure email provider, with a feature set (and auditing) that\u2019s similar to ProtonMail. Servers are located in Germany (the company has <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tutanota.com\/blog\/posts\/data-privacy-germany\/\">explained why<\/a>), and the service is built on many open-source foundations. There\u2019s a similar caveat with mobile access in that you need to use a dedicated app to decrypt your email.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-717075\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/tutanota-650x393.png\" alt=\"Tutanota Inbox\" width=\"640\" height=\"387\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.posteo.de\/en\">Posteo<\/a>\u00a0(no free accounts) is also located in Germany and has made a bit of a name for itself for being a cheaper alternative to both ProtonMail and Tutanota. Everything is encrypted end-to-end, with support for PGP implementation to provide additional peace of mind. There\u2019s also no need for a name, backup email, or other identifying information to create an account.<\/p>\n<p>There are many other secure email providers to choose from (way too many to list here), including <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mailfence.com\">Mailfence<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mailbox.org\">mailbox.org<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fastmail.com\">Fastmail<\/a>, and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/countermail.com\">CounterMail<\/a>. You should give some serious thought to the secure email service you choose, just as you would if you were picking a VPN.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s best to choose an established provider with a solid track record given the nature of this kind of service. One such Iceland-based provider, called UnSeen, disappeared without a trace in late 2020, only to reappear with a Taiwanese domain name, which has led to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/emailprivacy\/comments\/j7gynk\/what_happened_to_unseenis\/\">all sorts of speculation<\/a>\u00a0and distrust.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Do_You_Need_a_Secure_Email_Provider\"><\/span>Do You Need a Secure Email Provider?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you need a secure email provider, you probably already know it. Maybe you\u2019re a journalist and are worried about subpoenas exposing sources and private materials. Maybe you\u2019re the next Edward Snowden.<\/p>\n<p>For most people, a secure email provider probably isn\u2019t necessary. It will provide peace of mind at the cost of some features, convenience, and money. Your email provider won\u2019t be able to see the contents of your messages, and it will be easier to communicate with people with end-to-end encryption. (You could, of course, just use Signal to communicate with end-to-end encryption, too.) Whether that\u2019s worth it is up to you.<\/p>\n<p>But if your primary motivation is security, understand that you\u2019re more likely to fall victim to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewgeek.com\/71060\/hackers-stole-100-million-in-cryptocurrency-using-sim-card-spoofs\/\">social engineering attacks<\/a> than email data breaches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <strong><em>What Is Signal, and Why Is Everyone Using It?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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In that time, it\u2019s managed to become a major security risk to individuals, governments, and private companies around the world. This might explain the rising popularity of so-called \u201csecure email\u201d providers. So what&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":199528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/email-message-and-lock.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}