You don’t need me to tell you of the rumors circulating the internet. The NSA is spying on us. Hackers can gain access to our accounts with the click of a button. Nothing is secure. All of it could be true. Regardless, even the most outrageous rumors hold a hint of truth.
For example, your average email provider – think Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc. – does technically spy on you. Although real live people aren’t necessarily reading your emails, there are robots that are monitoring your emails . . . so to speak.
They seek out the subjects of your emails – what you’re discussing, the key words you bring up, and the things you’re generally interested in. This is how most emails are targeted by ads or “snail mail”. By taking your data and offering it to companies, email providers make their own profit.
The downside to this (or another downside to this) is that your email provider can and will give the government full access to your email and information if it comes down to it. This is one of the biggest reasons you should consider using a secure email provider.
In addition, the benefits are actually endless. By using an email provider that offers encryption and security, you are strengthening yourself against potential cyber-attacks. There are a couple email providers that you should consider:
MailFence
MailFence is a bit different than other email providers, as it uses OpenPGP public key encryption. Of course, this option isn’t mandatory – which makes MailFence an even better option. MailFence also offers calendar, cloud storage, and collaboration features.
ProtonMail
Dubbed by Forbes as “the only email system NSA can’t access”, it’s no question why ProtonMail is a good option. With servers located in Switzerland, the US government cannot legally shut them down or demand data from them. ProtonMail doesn’t log IP addresses either.