[Hidden-tech] [ADV] Re: Favorite Secure Email Service

Wed Apr 8 21:29:06 UTC 2020

Sorry, pet peeve of mine, HIPAA

For security you have to worry about transport & at rest security.  Secure mail typically means secure transport.  Security at rest would require an encrypted message in your inbox which you would need to decrypt every time you access it.   Transport security is easy and security at rest is hard.

From: Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net> on behalf of Christopher Parker via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>
Reply-To: <conductorchris at yahoo.com>
Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 5:12 PM
To: <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>
Cc: Christopher Parker <conductorchris at gmail.com>
Subject: [ADV] Re: [Hidden-tech] Favorite Secure Email Service

I don't know your situation.  But as a user I've just about had it to here with "secure" email solutions.  They are always a headache and always cause me to do all kinds of not secure things in order to use them.  You may not be in a position to do so, but if you can, I hope you would consider just how much security is really necessary.  For example, I really do NOT want to get my health care stuff on some kind of "Secure" email.  The likelihood of something going astray is small and inconsequential.  Banking information though, I understand.  I also understand that health care providers are working within HIPPA requirements and that other people have circumstances, abusive relationships and so on that necessitate security.

On 4/8/2020 11:25 AM, Stephen Michel via Hidden-discuss wrote:

Very short version: *Probably* the best thing is to use Signal, not email.

Short version: Email isn't secure. I can write (or better, link to) a longer explanation of why that's the case, but the bottom line is that it just wasn't built for privacy. You *can* build a secure system on top of email, by encrypting things before you send them through email using a different tool (pgp), and then decrypting them on the other end. But that's hard for most people to set up and still lacks a couple important security features (forward secrecy, metadata security). There's also providers like protonmail which add a *little* security. While acknowledging that something is better than nothing, there's still flaws in these systems and you shouldn't think you're getting strong security from using them.

Longer version (in a follow-up email): This question as it stands is impossible to answer well, bec ause security is a spectrum. Edward Snowden, the president, and you all have very different security needs. In order to arrive at a good answer, you need to figure out your security model.

- Who do you want privacy from? Random everyday people? Friends? An abusive ex/partner? The government? A hacker? For whoever it is, are they doing it en masse or targeting you specifically?

- Who will you be communicating with? If it's an elderly parent/grandparent, you need something simple enough that they can use it. Otherwise, it doesn't matter how good the security is.
- What information are you trying to protect? Is it just the contents of the conversation, or also the people you're talking to (eg, a whistleblower contacting a journalist needs this).

For most "regular" people, I think Signal is a pretty good fit, and that's why I recommended it given I know nothing about your use case.

--
I try to write short, functional emails.

On Wed, Apr 8, 2020 at 08:38, Christine Dutton via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:

Hello Hidden Tech Folks: 

Please recommend free favorite secure email services. 

Thank you!

Christine 
Christine Dutton 

Dutton Consulting 

413-626-6377

Find me on Facebook here! 

_______________________________________________
Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net

You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list.
If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members
page on the Hidden Tech Web site.
http://www.hidden-tech.net/members
_______________________________________________ Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list. If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members page on the Hidden Tech Web site. http://www.hidden-tech.net/members 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.hidden-tech.net/pipermail/hidden-discuss/attachments/20200408/533cab6c/attachment-0001.html>