How do encrypted Emails Work
When you send out emails, whether they are personal or private, it is important to add in an extra level of security to ensure that these emails stay safe and the wrong person isn’t able to read them. Encryption makes it easier for you to send off emails that only the intended receiver is able to read. But how does this all work? How are you able to read the email and your contact able to read the emails, but someone who intercepts it isn’t able to do this? Strange right? Well not really. Let’s have a look at the process a bit more clearly.
How does the encryption process work?
The technology that is going to make all this work is known as the PKI, or the Public Key Infrastructure. Anyone is able to use these Public Keys, but only the person who holds the Private key will be able to use it and no one else is able to use it. This means that if someone is trying to email you, they just need to use your Public Key. This helps to encrypt the message before it gets sent.
Then, when you receive the email, you will be able to decrypt it in order to see the original message that they sent you. You will also be able to use these pairs in order to prove that you are the sender of the email. For example, if you would like to send out an email to a friend, but you want to make sure that you need to verify that you are the sender.
In this step, you will need to place the Private Key into the message. You are then going to receive a message that is encrypted and you can use your Public Key to decrypt it. This will help you to know that you are actually the sender and that someone else isn’t trying to be you.
How do the public keys become public?
These key pairs are going to be created as well as distributed by one of the many entities online that will issue digital certificates, or CA. The private key is going to be entrusted to whoever is the owner of that certificate, but no one else is going to have access to that. Anyone who tries to send out a secure message to the owner of this particular private key will be able to access the public key by looking at the public directory of the CA or asking the recipient for this information.
Often using the name and the email address will help you to discover the public key, but no one other than the intended user should ever have the private key, or it can make a big mess in the system.
Encryption is one of the best security methods that you can use for your computer system. While there are some other options available, your emails can be vulnerable to attacks and if you are not careful, it is really easy for someone to get ahold of your personal information and send out emails that cause mischief and harm. Use encryption, and keep your private key to yourself, so that you can send and receive emails securely.
And after having gone through all this. We at Total Shred can’t emphasise how important it is to have your old computers, USBs and Hard Drives Shredded. Someone with access to your computer could very easily open for example the program Outlook. And then proceed to read emails that have ALREADY passed through the encryption process.