n a word, no - an email "Send" button in your email
message has always been client, the SMTP server at your
nothing more than a simple ISP (Internet Service Provider)
text message sent unencrypted to connects with the incoming POP3
a recipient we choose. So all the (Post Office Protocol ver. 3)
email that we so blithely send server where you are sending the
all over the Internet everyday is email. The servers have a short
neither private nor secure. Every "chat" verifying that the email
birthday greeting or Dear John address you are trying to send to
email, every complaint, rant or exists on the incoming POP3
verbal purge we may have sent to server. Then the SMTP server
our employers, credit companies, passes the message to the POP3
congressman or customer service server and the POP3 server puts
rep is subject to delivery errors the message into the recipient's
or outright interception. email box. At no time during the
process is your email encrypted
How can this be? To answer that to protect your privacy. The
we need to understand how email message could be intercepted at
works. For the vast majority of anytime during the process and
email users today, the email read by anyone.
system they use consists of two
servers providing incoming and On occasion, email sent to you or
outgoing services, SMTP and POP3. by you may even be delivered to
the wrong inbox and your private
The SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer message is no longer private. a
Protocol) server handles the single misdirected message could
outgoing email. SMTP was designed expose you to all kinds of
years ago when plain ascii text trouble depending upon it's
was all there was to send via content.
email. So, when you push the
Well, no one wants to read your hinted at earlier on...
email right? Wrong! Have you ever encryption! Learn how to use PGP
heard of Carnivore? That's a (Pretty Good Privacy) to encrypt
system that the FBI uses to your email.
harvest all email traffic going
through a network. How does this PGP uses a Public/Private key
affect you? When the FBI hooks method to encrypt email. First
Carnivore up to your ISP's you create a "Public" key. This
network because they suspect is the key that others will use
someone of dealing drugs or some to encrypt email sent to you.
other crime, Carnivore will Send this key to everyone you
filter through ALL email looking want to receive encrypted email
for keywords that relate to the from. Then you create a "Private"
crime in question. And because key. This is the key you use to
the search has to be decrypt any encrypted email sent
intentionally vague, you may be to you. Safeguard this key well.
sending a request for information It is the only thing that can
about a prescription drug you decrypt your messages. If you
take and Carnivore will harvest tell someone what it is or loose
your email to be read by a human it, your privacy is again
agent. Suddenly, the drugs you're compromised.
taking are now public knowledge.
Spammers have also been known to For more information on PGP and a
harvest email addresses via free download visit:
captured emails. http://www.pgpi.org. Next Time:
Incorporating PGP into your
OK - so now that you know the email...
problem, what should you do about
securing your privacy? It was
About the Author:
Michael Ameye has been developing web sites since 1995. He started writing about online privacy issues to answer questions from family, friends and co-workers. Visit http://www.canyourspam.com to see his latest work or to sign up for PSS Online - a privacy, safety, and security ezine.
Read more articles by:
Mike Ameye
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
