Today, many important transactions are sent through emails. This is why ensuring your email security is very important. Someone can actually use your email address or can change your message without your knowledge. Changing the return address of an email is quite fast and easy. It may just take a few seconds. All you have to do is to change your email address in the settings in your your email software and then you can have a different email return address the next time you send your email.
What is a digital certificate?
To remedy this problem, you can use a digital certificate. A digital certificate is an attachment to you email that would protect its security. It is a means to authenticate the email address of the sender. You can apply for a digital certificate from the Certificate Authority or CA. With a digital certificate, you can send an encrypted message that makes your message readable only by your intended recipient. The digital certificate also enables you to have a digital signature, which like the handwritten signature, gives authenticity to your message.
What are the weaknesses of a digital certificate?
Like some other security system, the digital certificate has its imperfections. For one, someone could access your private key (code used to decrypt a message). When you unwittingly shared your public (code used to encrypt a message) or private keys and someone used them, you cannot easily repudiate the email you sent. Aside from this, you will have some difficulty once you lose your password or digital certificate; you really have to stop using the email address and create a new one.