When encrypting emails, it ’ mho important to encrypt all of them, not precisely the ones with sensitive information. If entirely some of your emails are encrypted, it is a bolshevik pin for a hack and could make your inbox even less dependable. They will only have to hack into a few emails quite than sift through hundreds to find data they can use. We explain how to encrypt emails on multiple providers and summarize our tips in an infographic .
What is Email Encryption ?
Email encoding is basically mixing up the contents of an e-mail so it becomes a puzzle that only you have the key to solve. The public key infrastructure ( PKI ) is used to encrypt and decrypt emails. Each person is assigned a public and individual key in the form of digital code .
The public key is stored on a key waiter along with the person ’ s name and electronic mail address, and can be accessed by anyone. This public key is what is used to encrypt the e-mail. If person wanted to send you an electronic mail with sensitive information, they would use your public key to encrypt it. The private key is used to decrypt emails. It is stored somewhere safe and private on the person ’ second computer and only that person has access to it. The private key can besides be used to digitally “ sign ” a message thus the recipient knows it came from you.
Why is Email Encryption Important ?
Email encoding is important because it protects you from a datum transgress. If the hacker can ’ metric ton read your message because it ’ south encrypted, they can ’ t do anything with the information. Since 2013, over 13 billion data records have been lost or stolen. The average monetary value of a datum breach in 2018 is $ 3.86 million. This number has grown by 6.4 % since 2017. Data breaches can be costly because they take a while to identify. In 2018, the intend meter to identify a rupture was 197 days and the hateful fourth dimension to contain it was 69 days. Email encoding is a preventive measure you can take to avoid being part of a cybersecurity statistic .
Types of Email Encryption
The two chief types of e-mail encoding protocol are S/MIME and PGP/MIME. S/MIME ( Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions ) is built into most OSX and io devices and relies on a centralize authority to pick the encoding algorithm. S/MIME is used most much because it is built into boastfully web-based electronic mail companies such as Apple and Outlook .
PGP/MIME ( Pretty Good Privacy/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions ) relies on a decentralized trust model and was developed to address security issues facing plain text messages. Within this model, there is more flexibility and control over how well you want your emails to be encrypted, but it requires a third-party encoding tool .
How to Encrypt Emails in Gmail
Gmail already has S/MIME built into the app, but it only works if both the transmitter and liquidator have it enabled .
- enable hosted S/MIME .You can enable this setting by following Google’s instructions on enabling hosted S/MIME.
- Compose your message as you normally would .
- Click on the lock icon to the right of the recipient.
- Click on “view details” to change the S/MIME settings or level of encryption.
When changing the encoding levels note these color codes :
Green — Information is protected by S/MIME encoding and can lone be decrypted with a secret key .
Gray — The e-mail is protected with TLS ( Transport Layer Security ). This entirely works if both the transmitter and recipient role have TLS capabilities .
Red — The e-mail has no encoding security system .
How to Encrypt Emails in Outlook
Outlook is besides compatible with the S/MIME protocol, but it requires extra apparatus .
- enable S/MIME encoding .This process will involve getting a certificate or digital ID from your organization’s administrator and installing S/MIME control. Follow Office’s steps for setting up to use S/MIME encryption.
- Encrypt all messages or digitally sign all messages by going to the gear menu and clicking S/MIME settings. Choose to either encrypt contents and attachments of all messages or add a digital signature to all messages sent.
- Encrypt or remove individual messages by selecting more options (three dots) at the top of a message and choosing message options. Select or deselect “Encrypt this message (S/MIME).” If the person you are sending a message to doesn’t have S/MIME enabled, you’ll want to deselect the box or else they won’t be able to read your message.
How to Encrypt Emails on io
io devices besides have S/MIME support built in as a default .
- Go to promote settings and switch S/MIME on .
- Change “Encrypt by Default” to yes.
- When you compose a message and lock icon will appear next to the recipient. Click the lock icon so it’s closed to encrypt the email.
note : If the lock is blue sky, the electronic mail can be encrypted. If the lock is red, the recipient needs to turn on their S/MIME set .
e-mail Providers That Need Third-Party Encryption Tools
Email providers and devices that don ’ t have S/MIME compatibility built-in will need a third-party joyride that allows them to use S/MIME or PGP/MIME protocol .
Encrypting Emails With Yahoo
yokel uses SSL ( Secure Sockets Layer ) as a level of security to protect the score but requires third-party services to encrypt with S/MIME or PGP/MIME .
Encrypting Emails With Android
Android emails can be encrypted through S/MIME and PGP/MIME, but both require extra apparatus and a third-party app .
Encrypting Emails With AOL
Encrypting emails in AOL can be done manually, but requires a third-party cock to implement the PGP/MIME criteria. You first must download the PGP implementation and then obtain a program that allows you to use PGP encoding with your webmail provider .
Email Encryption Services
Email encoding can be done manually or by a dependable electronic mail service. These electronic mail service apps each have unique offerings such as encrypting emails, attachments and contact lists. They do this in the background so you don ’ t have to worry about doing it manually .
Some noteworthy providers are :
ProtonMail
ProtonMail allows you to enable end-to-end encoding and has PGP compatibility. It has different price levels, depending on the number of domains needed and messages sent per day .
- Price: free and paid plans
- Apps: Android
, Apple
Ciphermail
Ciphermail supports encoding through S/MIME, OpenPGP, TLS and PDF. It is popular for its compatibility with Android devices .
- Price: free
- Apps: android
Mailvelope
Mailvelope is an OpenPGP encoding service for webmail. It ’ s compatible with Gmail, GMX, Outlook, Posteo, WEB.DE and Yahoo .
- Price: exempt
- Apps: chrome, Firefox
Virtru
Virtru provides throughout electronic mail encoding services and is compatible with Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo and a few other providers .
- Price: free and paid plans
- Apps: chrome, G Suite
Startmail
Startmail supports encoding through PGP and is compatible with electronic mail services such as Outlook and Gmail .
- Price: detached and paid plans
- Apps: none
Send 2.0
Sendinc offers military-grade encoding and is compatible with Outlook and Gmail .
- Price: free and paid plans
- Apps: Outlook plugin
Enlocked
Enlocked allows you to send and receive encrypted emails using PGP. It is compatible with Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft and Outlook .
- Price: absolve and paid plans
- Apps: chrome
Protect yourself and your commercial enterprise from new cybersecurity threats by taking hindrance measures. Implementing an advance cybersecurity solution will help you find the best prevention techniques and teach you on efficient ways to apply them to keep you safe from hackers .
Sources:
personal computer Mag I Comparitech I Digital Guardian I Difference Between I Paubox I Office I Virtru I Ponemon Institute I Forbes I Breach Level Index
