The privacy and security of personal email always trigger public concern. Although nowadays many famous webmail services, like Gmail, offer secure web access via HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), emails are still transmitted in clear text. When you click the button to send the email, the transmission of email from your email provider to the target recipient is unencrypted. Owing to the clear text for transmission, the email content can be eavesdropped by third parties or hackers.

 

If you are worried about the sensitive content of your personal email being disclosed, the following tips may help you protect yourself from prying eyes.

 

1. Do not store any sensitive emails on the email service provider. Download and store the sensitive emails into your own secure computer and then delete them from the service provider immediately.

 

2. Save your message in a text file, encrypt the file, and then attach the file to the email and send it. If you want better protection, you can use the encryption software that supports digital certificates or key file functionality to encrypt the file.

 

3. Consider using Steganography on top of encryption - Steganography works by hiding messages and files in image files. The advantage of steganography over cryptography alone is that images do not attract attention. Plainly visible encrypted messages, no matter how unbreakable, will arouse suspicion of containing any sensitive information. Free and commercial software are available for you to easily hide messages and files into images.

 

4. If you are using email client software, instead of webmail interface, you may use encryption software to encrypt the whole email content, including attachment directly and to provide digital signature of emails before sending out the email.

 

5. Ensure the target recipient knows what kind of protection method you use before you send the email as the recipient should use the same technique to decrypt the email.

 

Next time when you are worried about your privacy when using personal email, please consider the suggestions above and try them out to see if they help!