Want the whole world reading your emails? No? Then you should encrypt them to protect your privacy. The encryption services we’ve tested can help keep snoops out of your messages.
Modern TV detective shows are obliged to include a character who’s a technological whiz. Give her a blurry blob of an image and she’ll sharpen it until you can read the license plate. Found the perp’s computer? She’ll have the email account open in no time, even reading deleted messages. Some of these feats are totally fictional, but getting into an email account? That’s realistic. And email messages can be intercepted as they bounce from server to server. If you want actual privacy, if you want email messages that nobody unauthorized can read, you need an encrypted email service. We’ve rounded up an eclectic collection of choices for you, and some of them are totally free. Get your encrypted communications set up now! Wait, Isn’t My Email Already Encrypted? You may remember some years ago when Google tweaked Gmail so that it always uses a secure HTTPS connection. That means it uses the standard Transport Layer Security (TLS) for encryption. This is good, but it’s the bare minimum. Every website should use HTTPS. Currently, Google says it doesn’t read your mail. However, it’s easy to accidentally give mail-reading permission to third-party apps. And Google does read your messages sufficiently to do things like automatically put airline flight notifications in your calendar. Google also has a policy explaining when it will release your email to government entities, one that clearly indicates that it can do so if compelled. Apple Mail supports full-on encryption and digital signatures. To enable these features, you must obtain a security certificate. There used to be quite a few sources for free certificates, but the list is shrinking. We used a third-party service obtain a cert for testing. With the certificate installed in your keychain, your emails are digitally signed by default. And if all the recipients of a message also have certs, you can click the lock icon to send the message encrypted. A quick survey of my PCMag colleagues turned up exactly nobody who had installed an email security certificate, and this is a technically minded group. You’d expect even fewer ordinary consumers to have encryption enabled for their Apple Mail…except that you can’t go lower than zero. In any case, Apple has had some glitches with encryption. Researchers in 2019 discovered unencrypted copies of secure emails in the database that Siri uses to better serve you. I think we can agree that Siri does not need to read our encrypted emails. The point here is that your email provider’s goals aren’t centered on security and privacy. If you really want to protect your emails from prying eyes, look to a third-party company that puts security first. Do I Have to Pay for Email Encryption? Maybe you’re convinced that encrypting your email is a good thing, but are you convinced enough to pay for it with your hard-earned cash? Don’t worry: You don’t have to pay. Preveil and Virtru are totally free. Both are simplified consumer-focused editions of enterprise-level products. Their “big brother” products bring in the cash. You don’t have to pay for SecureMyEmail if you use it to encrypt a single Gmail, Yahoo, or Microsoft account, and there are no limits on features. A paid account lets you protect multiple accounts—up to eight—and also adds support for other email providers. Signing up for a free account or a 30-day trial of the paid service doesn’t require a credit card or any personal info beyond your email address. At the free level, Tutanota lets you send and receive unlimited messages that are completely encrypted using open-source technology. You even get a secure calendar to go with your secure inbox. Upgrading to the inexpensive premium edition lets you create multiple calendars, define up to five aliases (alternate emails), and set filter rules to handle incoming messages. You can also use ProtonMail and Private-Mail for free, but you must accept certain limitations. Smart consumers will set up a free account and see if the limitations chafe.
