[ubuntu-uk] OT - secure email?

[Jon Spriggs]

Sadly, even MyKolab isn't really secure [0]

Realistically, what are you looking for? It's like the famous "Easy,
cheap or secure, pick 2" statement...

If it's protecting the messages you have sent from inspection (casual
or otherwise on the server), use something like GPG/PGP. Consider
backing MailPile [1] which is a mail client which bakes GPG into the
UI, it's not an after thought. Bear in mind however, that GPG doesn't
protect the metadata of your e-mail, so all the headers are still
there. You may be able to circumvent that by going via Tor, but
still...

If it's protecting the messages in-transit between your client and
your server (in case of someone running a packet capture between you
and your mail server), ensure they're running TLS encrypted SMTP and
TLS encrypted IMAP.

If you want to completely harden your mails, look at BitMessage [2],
which as a benefit, doesn't require a "mail server", as your client is
a P2P node, in a very similar way to how bitcoin works. Bear in mind
though, it's a very new technology, has a small number of users, has
limited client support (nothing on Android/iOS etc), and hasn't even
had a security audit yet.

Out of interest though, please let us know how you get on, and where
you decided to go next.

[0] https://twitter.com/SGgrc/statuses/370210611411423232
[1] http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mailpile-taking-e-mail-back
[2] https://bitmessage.org

Regards,
--
Jon "The Nice Guy" Spriggs


On 3 September 2013 10:32, Alan Pope <alan at popey.com> wrote:
> On 3 September 2013 10:18, Gordon C Burgess-Parker <gbplinux at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Given the revelations about PRISM, I now use an encrypted cloud service, but am concerned about using the usual suspects for email.
>> Does anyone have any thoughts about a free or minimal cost secure email? (Must support IMAP).
>>
>
> https://mykolab.com/
>
> Cheers,
> Al.
>
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