How To Send A Truly Private Email (Can It Be Done?)

Email is an indispensable tool for communicating with colleagues, clients, and friends. However, it's essential to remember that email isn't inherently private. Messages can be intercepted by hackers, government agencies, and even your employer. If you need to send confidential information, it's crucial to take steps to protect it.

Can It Be Done?

Yes, it is possible to send a private email.

However, it's important to understand that no method can provide 100% guaranteed security.

Even if you take all the right precautions, there is always a risk (however small) that your email could be intercepted.

Sending A Private Email

Email interception can happen due to:

• Cyber Threat: Malicious third-parties can use various techniques to intercept your emails if they aren't protected.
• Human Error: It's easy to send a private email to the wrong person by typing in or accepting an autofilled address.

To send a private email, you need to protect against both of these risks. This can be done by encrypting data and authenticating recipients.

Encryption scrambles message data so it's unreadable to anyone without the correct key. Authentication protects the keys needed to decrypt the message data, releasing them only once the right people have passed certain checks.

To truly protect an email, you need end-to-end encryption to disguise a message from sender to recipient and authentication to verify that the recipient is the right person to unscramble it.

Different Types Of Encryption

There are several encryption methods that can be used to protect private emails. The most common types include:

• Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a standard security protocol used to encrypt data in transit. When you use TLS to send an email, the data is scrambled before it is sent over the internet, making it very difficult for anyone to intercept and read the data.
• Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a more advanced encryption method that uses a stronger algorithm than TLS. PGP is also more flexible as it allows you to encrypt emails to specific addresses.
• AES-256 (End-To-End) uses a 256-bit key, making it extremely difficult to break, even with powerful computers. AES-256 encryption can be combined with authentication methods to ensure only verified recipients can access the keys needed to decrypt and read sensitive email data.

TLS encryption is suitable for everyday personal emails and is used by most email providers including Outlook and Gmail.

However, for truly secure emails, you should use AES-256 or PGP encryption combined with recipient authentication.

For military-grade security, suitable for highly sensitive information, businesses should use AES-256 encryption to prevent breaches.

Different Types Of Authentication

Several recipient authentication methods can be used to secure emails. The most common methods are:

• Question-and-Answer Authentication (Q&A): This method can be highly secure if the question and answer are unique to the sender and recipient. For instance, a question about a shared experience or inside joke would be difficult for a hacker to guess. However, this might not be suitable for business communication or sending emails to new contacts.
• SMS Code Authentication: This method is convenient and widely accessible. It has been shown to block 99.9% of automated cyber attacks. However, its security depends on the recipient's mobile phone security. If a hacker gains access to the recipient's phone number, they could potentially intercept the code.
• Government Document Authentication (ID&V): This method offers the strongest verification as it requires a government-issued ID for access. This is ideal for highly sensitive information exchange but might be considered an excessive security measure for everyday communication.

The best authentication method depends on the context and sensitivity of the information you're sending.

Consider factors like recipient familiarity and ease of use when choosing a method that balances security with practicality.

How To Send A Truly Private Email

To send a truly private email, you should use a secure email service that utilises encryption and recipient authentication.

Choose the right methods based on your needs - for everyday emails, TLS might suffice, but highly sensitive information might require stronger measures like AES-256 and ID&V authentication.

For business use cases, review our rundown of the best secure email services to help you protect sensitive data.

References:

One Simple Action You Can Take To Prevent 99.9 Percent Of Account Attacks, Microsoft, 2019.

Reviewed By:

Sam Kendall, 14.06.24

Sabrina McClune, 14.06.24