If we are all spied on I don't know but that it is easy for anyone to intercept and read the messages that pass on the network, that's for sure. Email is used to send private messages, to negotiate commercial transactions and to exchange important data.
Most e-mails are sent in text format and are transmitted in clear text, in a format easily readable by those who know how to sniff packets.
In this post we see some e-mail services to send encrypted and encrypted e-mail messages which, although they are not necessary in a country like Italy that, fortunately, still does not have a government censorship filter, can be an excellent way of preserve privacy and be more confident when sending important and private information.
Encrypting a message means protecting it with a password, impossible to decipher.
The encrypted Email providers are very varied, some are web applications, others are programs to be installed on your computer while others still integrate with your email account and add the level of protection.
READ ALSO: The safest secure and anonymous Email accounts with end-to-end encryption
First of all, in Gmail there is a function, from 2018, which allows you to send encrypted emails.
In another article, the guide to send protected emails in Gmail with expiration and password .
1) PGP is the most popular program for hackers to send private and encrypted emails.
PGP works by generating a key pair, a private and a public one.
If I want to send someone an email, I use his public key to encrypt and send the message that the recipient, and only he, can then open and decode using his private key.
2) Virtru is a service for encrypting emails sent with Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and other email services.
You just have to install an extension for Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer that makes every message sent automatically encrypted.
It can also be installed as a plugin for Microsoft Outlook.
3) ProtonMail is one of the most popular encrypted Email services in the world.
You can sign up for a Protonmail account and create a new secure and invulnerable email address .
Emails sent between users who have a Protonmail address are automatically encrypted and decrypted.
If instead the email is sent to a normal email address, then you can use a secret question to which the recipient must answer in order to read the message.
4) Sbwave Enkryptor is a free service to encrypt text messages to be sent by email.
The recipient receives the illegible message if he does not have a password.
There is no software to install, nothing to sign up for and no advertisements.
READ ALSO:
- How to send anonymous Email messages
- How to send self-destructing emails automatically .
5) Enigmail is a free extension for the Mozilla Thunderbird email client.
In this case it is therefore a stand-alone protection program that does not use external services to encrypt emails.
In addition to the Enigmail extension for Thunderbird you also need to install the open source GNU Privacy Guard software, free for Windows, Mac and Linux .
By default, messages are only digitally signed but not encrypted.
To activate the protection, you must select the " Encrypt this message " option in the email writing window.
Obviously, the recipient must be given the key to read the message.
With Enigmail you can protect any email messages sent with Thunderbird, using any email address such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Hotmail.
It is therefore not necessary to set up a new e-mail account.
6) Lockbin is an online service for sending encrypted and protected emails.
On the site, just press the green Start button and use the message composition interface with a password that will be essential to be able to read it.
The recipient of the encrypted email receives an email from Lockbin with a link to click that leads to the protected page where he must write the password,
7) Encipher.it is the easiest to use protection system, which still guarantees Advanced Encryption Standard ( AES ) encryption .
It is a bookmarklet, that is, a link to be added to the browser's favorites bar.
Whenever you write a message, on Gmail, on Facebook or on other web services, after writing it, just press the Encipher link saved in your favorites to activate the protection system.
Those who receive the message will be able to read it only knowing the password and, obviously, they must also have the Encipher.it bookmarklet.
8) Infoencrypt is a free web-based service for sending password protected messages.
Anyone who intercepts the encrypted message, without the password, will not be able to read it.
9) Mailvelope is an extension of Google Chrome that offers OpenPGP encryption for free for the most popular email services: Gmail / Google Apps, Outlook, Yahoo! and GMX.
10) rPost allows you to easily send secure e-mail messages from your e-mail address (10 free messages per month).
The service also sends a delivery receipt.
11) Sendinc is a simple and secure service for transmitting confidential and sensitive information via e-mail.
Without any software, encrypted messages can be sent without any risk that they can be stored without a decryption key.
12) Quickforget is one of the services to share information that self-destructs after some time.
13) Safe-Mail is a secure communication, storage, sharing and distribution system for the Internet.
It provides email, instant messaging, data distribution, data storage and file sharing tools in a suite of applications for businesses and individuals.
The system is available at any time and from anywhere through any device or operating system, be it PC or Macintosh, Windows or Unix, Sun.
14) Safemess allows you to encrypt the message text in seconds.
NOTE: Password protected messages can also be sent with Gmail, even if the solution appears less secure than the services listed here.
To conclude, another option to send protected and encrypted messages via Email is to send a text file or an image as an attachment that can be opened only by knowing the password.
For example, you could use an archive created with WinRar that also allows you to hide files inside an innocent image .
In another article, the best programs to protect files and folders on your computer .
