Day Four – a change of pace today!
Today’s challenge – Setup Private & Secure Email – Direct Link to Guide Page
Today’s challenge is pretty easy – it’s setting up a new web email account. How does this increase your security? Because this email account isn’t like any other web based email account (think gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com etc). This is ProtonMail. Why is it so special? Encryption. End-to-end encryption. Resting in a “zero knowledge” state.
What in the hell does that all mean? Well you probably have some idea of what encryption is: transforming data from a readable string of letters into jumbled garbage. Only the intended recipient of your communication can decipher the jumbled text back into your message. End-to-end encryption is what it sounds like – both ends of the communication chain are using encryption so that the content of the messages are secure – there’s no point you making sure your emails are secure if the person receives them prints them out and posts them on telegraph poles around the neighbourhood.
So what’s “zero knowledge”? It means that even the company that is hosting your data (ProtonMail in this example) cannot read your messages, even though it’s stored on their servers. Why is that important? Well are you aware that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft all scan every single email you receive, figure out what it is you’re interested in, and then sell that information to third-parties in the form of targeted advertising? If you don’t believe me, run a test. Write an email to someone about a topic that you’ve never written about (say growing mangoes) and then see how long it takes before you start to receive ads in your web browser for gardening supplies. Now think about all the personal details you have shared in your emails over the however-many-years you’ve had that email address, and now you start to get a sense of how creepy this all is. Oh, and yes, they can see what’s in all your photos. Just so you know…
Geoffrey: I already have a ProtonMail account, but I took the time to change my password, and resolved to get my family and friends onto the platform, so I can enjoy encrypted emails with them as well as clients.
Juan: Juan was a little creeped out by thought of Google reading all of his email. I’m not exactly sure what he has in his email, but he embraced this one wholeheartedly!
Diana: Diana wasn’t as easily sold on why she needed to change her email address, until I asked her if she minded if I read all her emails. When she objected, I asked why she lets unknown, un-trusted third-parties read her emails but not a trusted adviser.
Priscilla: Priscilla is one of those people that changes her email every time her ISP changes – that is, she has been using the default email address given to her by her ISP. I didn’t know these people still existed. She now has a ProtonMail account with a decidedly fabulous handle!
So Day 4 took longer to explain to my devotees than it actually took to actually complete. See you tomorrow!
Previous Days Here:
Day 0 – Introduction to the Team
Day 1 – Installing Operating System and Application Updates
Day 2 – Set Up A Standard User Account
Day 3 – Review Privacy Settings
