Microsoft® Windows® XP Networking and Security Inside Out: Also Covers Windows 2000

Protecting E-Mail from Prying Eyes

It's only a slight exaggeration to say that an unencrypted message sent by e-mail is about as private as a message written on a postcard. The problem is that packets of data moving from one e-mail server to another over the Internet travel through an unpredictable number of intermediaries; because these packets contain plain text, anyone who has access to any server along the way (your Internet service provider, for instance) can read the contents of messages in transit. The task might not be quite as simple as turning over a postcard, but it's not that much more difficult. For messages whose confidentiality is crucial, you can hide your communication from everyone but its intended recipients with the help of ...