Living Internet Security Issues Government agencies and large business will presumably be the first to make extensive use of electronic mail, followed by small businesses and private individuals. When this starts to happen, it will become increasingly desirable to have fast, efficient cyphers to safeguard information from electronic eavesdroppers.
Email is guaranteed to be confidential only when it is encrypted .
Related pages include the Internet Security section for more information on general security issues such as remailers and viruses , and the page on email viruses . The primary risk to email security is to compromise of confidentiality, where someone intercepts and reads your email. Most countries have specific legal protections that prevent Governments and individuals from opening and reading your paper mail. Unfortunately, few countries have yet provided the same protections for electronic mail, giving individuals and the state lots of legal room to read your email. As a practical matter, your email can be easily read by people working in your company's or Internet service provider's computer department, and by the computer services department at the email's destination.