{"article":{"id":84005,"heading":"Email Privacy and Security","author":"resist","created":"2003-09-23 17:03:52","modified":"2003-09-23 17:21:51","last_modified":"Wed, 24 Sep 2003 00:21:51","article":"

There are a number of different aspects to secure email and\/or anonymous email access. This section is designed to explore the \r\ndifferent options available to you for secure email access, as well \r\nas when and how to use anonymous email.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>

\r\nSecure Connections for Email Access<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Securely connecting to your shell or email service is the first \r\nstep in protecting yourself from unwanted \"sniffers\" that may be \r\nhanging out in one of the various internet gateways between your home \r\nand your server. There are programs that operate to \"sniff\" out \r\nunencrypted passwords and logins, giving a third party access to your \r\naccount and files stored in your home directory. Sniffers may be set \r\nup by malicious hackers, or by government agencies looking for \r\nspecific file access.\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Using a secure shell program, rather than telnet is one way to \r\nencrypt this information as it travels back and forth. For more \r\ninformation on Secure Shell programs available to you, check out \r\nour page on secure shell<\/b>. \r\n\r\n
\r\n<\/p>

\r\nOther Email Encryption<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

PGP Encryption is the best way to keep your e-mail private & \r\nsecure. Get PGP now and learn how to use it.\r\n\r\n<\/p>

\r\nAnonymous Email<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There may be times when you want to conceal your real identity \r\nwhen you use the Internet. You may be protecting yourself against \r\nrepressive governement messages, or want to post personal messages to \r\na Usenet newsgroups without identifying yourself to the whole world \r\nas the person who posted it. There are, of course, issues with the \r\nuse of anonymous email (ie: it may be difficult for the receivers to \r\ntrust the message if they do not know where it's coming from), but, \r\nhaving said that, it is obvious that there are times when a sender \r\ncan not reveal their identity for legal or other reasons.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>

\r\nAnonymous Remailers<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

These systems do one of two things. Either they give you an \r\nanonymous address, to which other people can send you mail, which is \r\nthen forwarded to your real address (this is sometimes referred to as \r\na pseudonymous server), or they post or mail your message without any \r\ntrace of the sender's name or address.\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Web Based Anonymous Remailers<\/b> are a \r\nvery convenient way to remail messages.\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Cypherpunk Remailers<\/b>, also known as \r\n\"Type I\" remailers, simply take your message, strip off all headers \r\nand send it to the intended recipient. This means that no one will be \r\nable to reply in e-mail to your message, but it gives you an almost \r\nuntraceable way of sending messages.\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Mixmaster Remailers<\/b>, also known as \r\n\"Type II\" remailers, were designed to be even more secure than \r\ncypherpunk remailers. Most of the attacks that work against Type I \r\nremailers are useless against Mixmaster remailers. It requires a \r\nspecial client to compose messages.\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Nym Servers<\/b> are a type of pseudonymous \r\nremailer. Nym.alias.net is the most popular of this type.\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/p>

\r\nWeb-Based Free E-Mail Accounts<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

There are more and more free e-mail services popping up all over \r\nthe world, many even give you several choices of domain names (like \r\nlawyer.com, etc).\r\n\r\n<\/p>

E-mail services are adding more and more features to their email \r\nlike secure SSL encrypted connections, voice mail, auto-responders, \r\nPOP3 access, attachments, mail forwarding, mail collection from \r\noutside accounts, and more. When applying for these services do not \r\nuse any real information if you wish to remain private and anonymous. \r\nThe information is never checked by a real person unless your account \r\nis doing something naughty.\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Mail sent via these services usually includes the Originating IP \r\naddress of the host ISP (Internet Service Provider) you used to \r\nconnect to their web page and if not the mailserver's logs will \r\nalways have it. To increase your anonymity you should use a web proxy\r\nserver to hide your IP address. In order to remain anonymous you must \r\nuse a web proxy EVERY time you access your web based account. You \r\ncould also connect from a cyber-cafe, library, etc.\r\n\r\n<\/p>

In addition, there is no question that all data travelling through large free email servers such as \r\nhotmail and yahoo is sniffed and collected by the FBI, so think carefully about what you are sending and \r\nto who using these services (this goes for all email you send really).\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Some of them require cookies (which can always be deleted afterwards, just don't forget), \r\nand frames (some allow you to choose no frames), etc. and can't be used through \r\nsome web-based proxys (like Anonymizer).\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\r\n\r\nYNN Mail
\r\n\r\n\r\nHushmail -ssl and pgp support
\r\n\r\nFastmail - ssl support\r\n
\r\nIobox Mail - formerly GNW mail - Finland
\r\n\r\nInfo Space Mail -\r\n Anonymizer friendly
\r\n\r\n \r\n<\/td>		\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/td>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMail City -\r\n Anonymizer friendly
\r\n\r\n\r\nMaui Mail -\r\n Anonymizer friendly
\r\n\r\nMyOwnEmail - 200 \r\ndomain names
\r\n\r\nNet@ddress - POP3 \r\naccess
\r\n\r\nPO Box
\r\n\r\nPost Master - \r\n(England)
\r\n\r\nPronto Mail
\r\n\r\nStart - (Australia)
\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/p>

\r\nFree POP & Shell E-Mail Accounts<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Using these from your home telephone is NOT secure. Data \r\ntransmissions are not much different than voice transmissions, which \r\nwe know are not secure. Many free web based email accounts now offer \r\nPOP3 access. You could connect from a cyber-cafe, library, etc. or \r\neven check your e-mail from a web-based e-mail client below through a \r\nproxy web server.<\/p>

\r\n\r\nFreeMail POP Only\r\nJuno - Free Dialup accounts (Windows & USA only). Netzero offers free dialup for the US and Canada.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n<\/p>

\r\nFree E-Mail Forwarding<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

These will forward all incoming e-mail to another e-mail address. \r\nYou must have another e-mail address (web or other) already. \r\nTo increase your anonymity you should use a web proxy\r\nserver to hide your IP address. In order to remain anonymous you must \r\nuse a web proxy EVERY time you access your web based account. You \r\ncould also connect from a cyber-cafe, library, etc.<\/p>

\r\n\r\nBig Foot
\r\nDragonCon
\r\niName
\r\nNet Forward
\r\n<\/p>

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n<\/p>

\r\nWeb-Based E-mail Clients <\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

These are clients that let you check an existing POP E-mail \r\naccount using only a Web browser. Check your E-mail anytime, \r\nanywhere, with no need to sign up for a web based e-mail account. \r\nUseful for those who connect to the Net through a firewall from work school, etc.\r\nWeb based e-mail that also has POP3 access can be checked through these (most can not).\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Mail and News also with\r\n SSL
\r\n\r\nPop 3 Now also with\r\nSSL
\r\n\r\nMail \r\nReader also with\r\n SSL \r\n
\r\nalso available in Swedish and Norweigan
\r\n\r\nMail Start
\r\nAlso available in Portugese, French and Spanish.
\r\n\r\n\r\nUNO Mail
\r\nYou can consolidate up to 20 different POP3 accounts through this \r\nweb-based reader. You can also set up a personal address book.
\r\n\r\nPanda Mail
\r\n\r\n<\/p>

\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Stenography<\/b> allows you to hide files \r\nincluding e-mail inside of images, sounds and more.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n<\/p>

\r\nFurther Reading and Resources<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

G.E.Boyd's Everything by Email Web Page\r\n\r\n<\/p>

Free email and related services directory\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/security.resist.ca\/email.shtml","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/09\/84005.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":84010,"heading":"also good","article":"Participating With Safety: \r\nA series of briefings on information security and online safety for civil society organisations<\/a>\r\n\r\nAn Introduction to the 'Participating With Safety' Project\r\nComputers are a very useful tool to assist people's work. They not only help with writing, graphic design and publishing information, they are increasingly becoming an essential communications tool as part of computer networks and the Internet. \r\n\r\nBut the reliance people have on computers is also a weakness. This weakness, and the ways of working around the problems computer technology can create, must be understood by those using computers. Through the understanding of the weaknesses of the way computers and computerised communications work we can take steps to protect our work, our security and our privacy.\r\n\r\nThere are many different aspects to using computers securely:\r\nYou can set-up the computer to run more securely and reliably;\r\n\r\n\r\nUsing access controls, such as passwords, you can prevent disclosure of information;\r\n\r\n\r\nBy organising the information on the computer, and keeping regular copies, you can prevent the loss or corruption of information; and\r\n\r\n\r\nUsing various means, you can secure your use of the Internet, and prove the authenticity of your communications.\r\n\r\n\r\nUsing computers more securely is a mixture of learning a little more about how the computer works, and undertaking certain tasks on a regular basis. The vast majority of the risks to your use of your computer come from mistakes in your own use or storage of information, or from the failure of the equipment it is stored on. Surveys in industries dependent on computer technology have found that 75% of data losses are due to internal errors, not from external factors such as computer viruses or deliberate damage. You don't have to organise your information according to a strict formula. But it must be done in a way that everyone who needs to use it understands how data is stored and used. It's also important to organise things to make it easier to keep copies of information, and to store those copies in such as way that they cannot be damaged or destroyed.\r\n\r\nThe other issue to deal with are the external threats to your work and computerised information. This comes from a variety of sources. There are the everyday risks from bad software and computer viruses. But increasingly we are becoming subject to directed risks; this can be the intrusion by the state or corporations who seek to frustrate or prevent our work taking place, or those seeking to defraud or steal information or computer equipment. The careful management of information, and the use of access controls to data and equipment, can help reduce the impacts of any attacks on you or your organisation. But it is important to realise that you can never completely prevent damage or data loss from external influences.\r\n\r\nOverall, the purpose of these briefings is to help you make a qualitative improvement to the security of your computer and communications.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"pr","parent_id":84005,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-09-23 17:23:03","modified":"2003-09-23 17:23:03","fileurl":""}]}