Are there any truely secure Email services?

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yurt

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Wannabe Geek

Topic # 94709 17-Dec-2011 01:04

Does anybody in NZ offer a trusted secure email service only? Does such a service exist, or can anyone recommend the 'most' private/secure method of setting something up?

BatchCreator

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Wannabe Geek

Reply # 558875 17-Dec-2011 05:00

These days, no. However there are better spam filters being developed every day. This is probably one of the most common problems for people all over the world.. Just wish I could find better security software for my computer.

DonGould

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Reply # 558954 17-Dec-2011 13:08

I'm not even clear what you mean by secure email.

You can encrypt your email which gives it some protection in transit.

You can use TLS and other systems to have secure coms between you and the mail server.

But in my view, email security is only as good as the ability of the sender and receiver getting it right.

Personally I looked at GPG a decade ago and realised I was just kidding myself if I thought that offered me any level of security in my coms.

Just this morning I was reading about that .us guy who leaked all the gov.us cables to wikileaks.

If gov.us can't keep its 'frank' thoughts in a private space, with all its resource, then what on earth would make you think that I or anyone else could offer you any real level of security?

Sure, I can give you a sense of security. I can host you a mail system on a dedicated box, give you some training, write you a policy out lining the limitations of what I've built and arrange that the system is audited by a team I consider competent to peer review the exercise.

I can't give you any assurance about the hardware bios, I can't speak for the carriers who will transit your content and I can't speak for either you or your 'other parties', their systems and their skill sets.

Does this provide some help and food for thought? :)

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hamish225

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Reply # 558965 17-Dec-2011 13:41

nothing is private on teh interwebz

once its on there its on there forever, i presume the same goes for emails too, someone could intercept your data, decrypt any encryption you put on it if they really wanted too

DonGould

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Reply # 558973 17-Dec-2011 13:57

hamish225: nothing is private on teh interwebz

once its on there its on there forever, i presume the same goes for emails too, someone could intercept your data, decrypt any encryption you put on it if they really wanted too

What will really do your head in...

Today I can't travel in time, however, my grandfather couldn't travel to the moon, my fathers generation got there...

So, I could just collect your encrypted data for now, which I don't have the processing power to do anything with and store it until I do have the processing power to do something with.

There's a good chance that buy the time I can crunch it, I'll also be able to push it back in time and put it somewhere that I would see it now, such as my inbox...

...hummm, doesn't this sound like a great plot for a movie!

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hamish225

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Reply # 559033 17-Dec-2011 17:31

DonGould:
hamish225: nothing is private on teh interwebz

once its on there its on there forever, i presume the same goes for emails too, someone could intercept your data, decrypt any encryption you put on it if they really wanted too

What will really do your head in...

Today I can't travel in time, however, my grandfather couldn't travel to the moon, my fathers generation got there...

So, I could just collect your encrypted data for now, which I don't have the processing power to do anything with and store it until I do have the processing power to do something with.

There's a good chance that buy the time I can crunch it, I'll also be able to push it back in time and put it somewhere that I would see it now, such as my inbox...

...hummm, doesn't this sound like a great plot for a movie!

*suddenly, random text appears*

Hammerer

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Reply # 559036 17-Dec-2011 17:48

yurt: Does anybody in NZ offer a trusted secure email service only? Does such a service exist, or can anyone recommend the 'most' private/secure method of setting something up?

I know that there are secure email services which encrypt everything between the mail server and your mail client. They are commonly used by people who live in foreign countries where there is a risk of monitoring or action from government / quasi-government agencies, An example would be religious believers (Christians, Bahais, etc) living in Islamic or Communist states.

Unfortunately, I can't remember any names.

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gzt

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Reply # 559039 17-Dec-2011 17:55

What kind of things are you wanting to (a) protect, and (b) protect from?

PGP is the classic solution for most of it. Just depends how build infrastructure around it to secure each exposed level.

1080p

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Reply # 559111 17-Dec-2011 22:21

Hushmail from behind seven proxies.

yurt

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Wannabe Geek

Reply # 559374 18-Dec-2011 21:06

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I was wondering about how to prevent potential snooping on text emails, from transit to storage on the mail server before you can download them. I guess some method of encryption would be the way to go. gzt: By 'infrastructure' do you mean software on the sender/receiver's machines? Would that be the basic method?

I wonder if VPN or 'tunnelling' could be used for some email security?

I guess a service that offered 'secure email' would end up being a focus of attention to anyone trying to snoop, so maybe one of the best policies is something that can work with regular systems already out there.

yurt

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 564456 4-Jan-2012 20:04

Just following this up.

Reason I am looking into this is to protect Intellectual Property from snoops, whether they are associated with corrupt 'law enforcement' agencies (through those "LI" boxes installed everywhere in NZ now), or some corrupt ISP technician feeding info on to some mate. Don't mean to put anyone's back up here but I've been thinking about this a while and I think it's a fair concern. Not doing anything naughty, but trying to protect myself against naughty people in fact.

I read that PGP encryption is (probably) a nuisance for snoops. Is there anyone here who uses PGP? I wonder if for example one could buy a domain name from a service with all messages transmitted using PGP, so that the Intellectual Property is not revealed until the domain is ready to go live. I realise there are many other ways the domain name could be revealed but I suspect targeting and snooping on email transactions is probably quite easy. Any..... suppositions?

DonGould

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Reply # 564459 4-Jan-2012 20:14

yurt: Any..... suppositions?

Pay someone with clue to help you.

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freitasm

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Reply # 564462 4-Jan-2012 20:25

yurt: By 'infrastructure' do you mean software on the sender/receiver's machines? Would that be the basic method?

Infrastructure is everything from email platform, PKI, key management, rights management, storage, etc.

yurt: I wonder if VPN or 'tunnelling' could be used for some email security?

No. At some stage your traffic is available at the VPN provider and THEY can look at it. Also it will require some good management to make sure emails always go through the VPN, just in case something happens and they slip through the cracks.

yurt: whether they are associated with corrupt 'law enforcement' agencies (through those "LI" boxes installed everywhere in NZ now)

Although there's always the risk of government looking over the shoulders of citizens, I would worry about other things first. For example industrial espionage is not fiction, and most of security breaches come from insiders.

In other words, I think you will find cheap solutions are not adequate and adequate solutions are not cheap.

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DonGould

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Reply # 564475 4-Jan-2012 21:19

freitasm: In other words, I think you will find cheap solutions are not adequate and adequate solutions are not cheap.

Agreed. And an adequate solution is only good enough if it's more secure than anyone intent on getting the data and when.

I could secure stuff to the point it would keep the OP out, based on my perception, but there are others here who I'm sure could get past anything I throw up.

But is the information being secured worth the time of those who might gain from it?

So could I keep this information secure enough even with my limited skills?

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