What is the purpose of e-mail encryption?
E-mail encryption ensures that electronic messages can only be read by the desired recipients, and thus remain confidential. This protection is especially important for sensitive data. The encryption process turns an e-mail into an encoded message with a seal of authenticity. Various cryptographic algorithms such as symmetrical and asymmetrical encryption are used to encrypt and decrypt e-mails. A cryptographic algorithm is considered secure when it is difficult to decrypt a message without the encryption key – even when the algorithm being used is known. In practice, “difficult” means that the message cannot be decrypted within a reasonable timeframe.
