1. What is email encryption?
Your emails are secured using email encryption, which masks the message’s content so that only the intended recipients can access and read it. Email can be a vulnerable medium because other users can intercept and read it, especially when messages are sent over unsecured or public networks. By rendering the contents of your emails unreadable as they travel from point A to point B, encryption secures your communications and ensures that they cannot be read by anyone who might intercept them.
2. How does email encryption work?
PKI, or public key infrastructure, is used for email encryption. A private key and a public key are used in this. The public key is used by those who are sending encrypted emails, and the private key is used by recipients to decrypt communications into readable form. According to this concept, anyone can encrypt email using a public key, but only a specific private key can decrypt encrypted messages.
3. Why is email encryption important?
Sensitive material is supposed to be protected by email encryption. Emails that are securely encrypted aid in preventing data leaks. Email encryption is used by people and companies of all sizes as part of their cybersecurity strategy. Regulatory compliance is an issue for some firms. Email encryption can be important, especially given that the amount of emails sent globally is rising year over year. Internet laws like Europe’s General Data Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) mandate certain data privacy standards.
4. Types of email encryption
There are three different forms of email encryption to be aware of:
1. Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
PGP uses file encryption and digital signatures to encrypt and decrypt email messages. One of the first free, openly accessible public key cryptography systems was this one. Both individuals and corporations use it frequently to safeguard online communication.
PGP employs a variation of the public key infrastructure (PKI) strategy, encrypting data when a user sends it using their public key and decrypting it when the recipient receives it using their private key.
2. Secure Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME)
S/MIME offers PGP-like capabilities, but users must get keys from a particular Certificate Authority (CA). We’ll look at how to enable the feature shortly. It is a standard feature of the majority of contemporary email software services, including Apple and Outlook. Read More How to Encrypt Email in Outlook, Gmail, iOS, and Yahoo.