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Secure Webmail Providers?

Posted by Cliff on from the a-little-paranoia-is-a-healthy-thing dept.

Rainier Wolfecastle asks: "I am looking for information on any webmail providers that support PGP/GnuPG encryption. Up until now I have been using Lok Technology's excellent service, but it appears that they have gone out of business, since their site has been unreachable for over two weeks now. I am aware of Hushmail, but that doesn't work well under Linux. I am considering using Name.Space's LokMail service (based on Lok Technology's..er...technology) but I was wondering if anyone out there has any other suggestions. Free email is coming to an end, and if I'm going to pay for it (which I don't mind at all) then I want a decent product."

6 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Hushmail? by penguin_punk · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hushmail was the first and obvious choice when I read the headline, but you mentioned that it doesn't work well under linux??? What's up with that? I believe it uses java. (to lazy to check) Do you not know how to install the java plugin under mozilla/netscape/konqueror?

    --
    HURD - Hurd's Under Research & Development
    1. Re:Hushmail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      A couple of points:

      1) Please mod the parent down. It is the opposite of informative.

      2) Hushmail is only supported on IE under Windows. Yes, the client is a Java applet, but it's "MS-Java". The applet doesn't work under Linux or Mac OS X. I haven't tried it under Mac OS 8.x or 9.x, but I'm not exactly optimistic.

  2. Re:What's the point... by crow · · Score: 5, Informative

    The server-to-server communication is not in plaintext if you use PGP or GPG. Of course, the headers are, so an observer can see who you're talking to, just not what they're saying.

  3. Hushmail in linux by rocketfairy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hushmail works fine for me in linux; it runs on java, so you need a browser (Mozilla works swimmingly) and a working virtual machine. Grab the latest one from Sun, make sure there's a link to it in the mox plugins dir. If it keeps breaking, try making the account on a windoze machine, and then accessing it in linux -- that worked for me the 1st time when my jvm was crashy.

    Oh, and remember -- hush security is only as good as your passphrase. Diceware!

  4. No, that would be stupid... by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 4, Informative

    Webmail is for roaming. If you're roaming, then you don't trust the client. PGP is useless if you don't trust the client.

    And don't say signed java applets 'cause (1) if you trust the provider's signature then just use https (I'll give you an account at inbox.org) and (2) if you don't trust the computer then you can't store your private key.

  5. Re:Web mail with i18n support - any? by pete-classic · · Score: 5, Informative

    SquirrelMail has handled this for years.

    It is totally paranoid about HTML email.

    Even comes with a bunch of translations.

    So, either set up your own mailserver (like a real man!) or find a provider that uses SquirrelMail. I use Fairplay Communications here in Colorado. They rock, and provide SquirrelMail. (And the only affiliation I have with them is that I am a paying customer.)

    SquirrelMail is where it's at. (But I am a little biased ;-)

    -Peter