Privacy Harbor™

How SMTP Email Works

Email is Exposed

Simple Mail Transport Protocol, or SMTP email came into use around 1981 and has remained virtually unchanged since then. Standard SMTP email—nearly ubiquitous with modern business—works by forwarding copy of the message sent from your mail server to multiple other servers, each of which retains a copy. The more servers it goes through, the greater your exposure.

Below is an illustration of how email travels through multiple servers. Every copy is an opportunity for illegal hacking, or completely legal data mining!

Email is continually exposed to information harvesting, competing commercial interests, eavesdroppers, and even security leaks from employees and contacts. Truth is, it was never designed to protect business, legal, or any other sensitive communications running out over the internet.

“Fixes” are Costly and Largely Ineffective

Email users fight back against privacy invasion by employing spam filters, encryption, anonymous addresses and blacklists; but increasing sophistication and sheer VOLUME of unwanted email makes this a losing battle.

Even costly Virtual Private Networks security measures are continually circumvented by employees and users desiring the simple portability of their personal email address. According to a recent article, office email, and even medical records are often forwarded by employees to gmail, yahoo, and AOL.

As if these security risks weren't bad enough, Email frequently opens the door for competitors, sometimes even carrying their ads right along with your message!

Read more about how email hurts business.

http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/404/1
http://radio.weblogs.com/0114726/2002/11/19.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/technology/11email.html