Email encryption is a term that refers to the encryption as well as the authentication of email or electronic mail messages. Most commonly, email encryption is designed to rely on what is known as public key cryptography. There are a number of popular protocols that are used for the purpose of email encryption, the most notable of which are mail session encryption, identity based encryption, Open PGP encryption, TLS encryption and S/MIME encryption.

- Mail Session Encryption - This involves using a STARTTLS SMTP extension, which is a TLS layer that is on top of an SMTP connection. It is capable of protecting mail traffic from being sniffed while it is being transmitted, but this does not actually involve encrypting the actual email because the content inside the email messages is capable of being revealed to, and thusly tampered with, by the email relays that are involved. The encryption, then, actually occurs between the individual SMTP relays rather than between the individual sender and recipient. When both of the relays offer support for STARTTLS, then it is capable of being used regardless of whether or not another protocol is being used to encrypt the contents of the email.

- Identity Based Encryption is a form of public key cryptography that is designed and implemented to use unique information regarding the identity of the user such as their email address as the public key. The public key may also be a text value such as the domain name or name or its associated IP address for example.

(more…)

Popularity: -0% [?]