The inherent insecurity of sending email messages over standard, unencrypted email systems has been dominating the news of late thanks to the baffling actions of a certain Presidential candidate.
As you probably already know, any information that’s transmitted over an unencrypted email system is wide open to anyone who might happen to intercept it while it’s on its way to the recipient’s computer or mobile device. And trust me, it happens all the time.
While maintaining our own personal email server and using it to encrypt our emails is probably not a realistic option for most folks, you can still easily send your emails to their intended recipients in secure encrypted form. And in case you’re wondering, it won’t cost you a dime if you use a fantastic secure email service called Hushmail.
Hushmail is a web-based email service similar to Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo Mail. But there is a very big difference between Hushmail and those other email service providers: Hushmail securely encrypts your emails, and they remain encrypted until they reach the recipient’s inbox.
The Hushmail service works something like this:
You type up your email in Hushmail’s easy-to-use online interface, add an optional Secret Question and Answer, then click the Send button. The email is then securely encrypted and sent on its way to the recipient.
If the recipient is also a Hushmail user, the email will be automatically decrypted and displayed on the screen just as soon as he/she opens the email.
However, if the recipient is using some other email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.), they can unencrypt and read the email by correctly answering your Secret Question. If they fail to answer the question corectly, the email remains encrypted and it cannot be read. That ensures that only the intended recipient can access the contents of your email (IF he/she can correctly answer your Secret Question).
As you can see, Hushmail makes it easy to send emails in a secure encrypted format to anyone with an email account, even if the recipients use regular, non-secure email providers. And if a recipient of one of your encrypted emails is also a Hushmail user, their reply back to you will be encrypted as well!
As mentioned above, Hushmail is completely free for personal use. There are a couple of limitations on free accounts however:
1 – Free accounts are limited to 25 Megabytes of storage space. That’s a really low amount when compared to the storage provided by most regular email services. That being said, you can easily work around the 25MB limitation by using Hushmail only for emails that contain sensitive information that you really want to keep private and using a regular email account for everything else.
2 – You must remember to log in to your free Hushmail account at least once every three weeks in order to keep your free account open and in good standing.
Most casual users will probably be able to get along just fine with a free account, even with the above limitations. The main thing is remembering to log into the account at least once every three weeks!
The paid “upgraded” accounts don’t have the “every three weeks” login requirement and they come with lots more storage space and a few other perks that aren’t included with the free accounts.
Personally, I have discovered that a free account is just fine for my needs, and chances are it will be for you as well. You can always simply sign up for a free account and give it a try. There is no “trial period” to be concerned with. You’ll be able to use your free Hushmail account for as long as you want.
If you decide later that you need more storage or keep forgetting to sign in to your account every three weeks, you can always upgrade to a paid plan at any time.
That’s pretty much all there is to Hushmail. If the thought of being able to send secure encrypted emails and not having to worry about hackers or other miscreants intercepting your messages appeals to you, click here to visit the Hushmail website and check it out for yourself.
Enjoy!!
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