Despite the notion that emails are supposed to be private, there are instances when emails are read by other parties before it reaches the recipient. In fact, emails can even be saved on a backup system and can be read long after they have already been sent. To prevent confidential messages from being read by a third party, individuals can opt to use email encryption. Email encryption often makes use of public key encryption, which is a type of cipher that uses a pair of keys to encrypt and decrypt data.
Email encryption using public key encryption
The “key” used for email encryption is a small bit of text code that activates the associated algorithm to decode or encode messages. In public key encryption, two keys are produced by an encryption program and are linked to an email address or a name. The public key can be shared to friends and other people so that they can use it to encrypt messages that are meant for the owner of the key. Once the owner receives the encrypted text, he or she can then use the private key to decrypt it.
Why use public key encryption for email encryption
Email encryption done using public key encryption assures the users that their emails are secure. Although many individuals are likely to consider email encryption as an excessive way to maintain privacy, this is great for those who want to keep certain email correspondence private. Email encryption gives one the assurance that any stored emails on mail servers, as well as messages in transit, will all be unreadable to a third party.