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Pop3 Email with no SSL, should I worry?

j03h4gLund

j03h4gLund

Senior member
My ISP email address doesn't use SSL. If I am emailing bank statements and such - should I worry that SSL is off? I thought this was how to encrypt the email?

Thanks in advance.
 
You could put the item you want to send in a .zip or .rar file. That can then be password encrypted so it would be safe to send. The person getting the file would need to the password to open the archive or the file. Winzip will for .zip and Winrar for .rar files. I think Winrar can also do the .zip files.
 
It IS how you encrypt the email. However in most cases, connecting to mail.xxx.com (that is your ISP mail host) the packets will travel from your home, across the "last mile" (cable/DSL/dialup whatever) - get into the ISP core, and directly to the mail server. It isn't likely anybody can snoop on that besides the ISP. I for one - would NOT transmit anything over a wide open POP3 session that I wouldn't want sitting on a table on the sidewalk outside my house. What happens if you tick the box for "use ssl"?
 
SSL is just how you would encrypt the transport, the email still remains in plain-text on the email server and probably is transmitted plain-text from the ISP mail server to it's destination. To actually encrypt the email you need software like PGP or to do what bruceb said and put all of the sensitive information in an encrypted attachment with a strong passphrase.

I wouldn't email anything with sensitive information regardless of the transport.
 
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