end-to-end encryption
There are two common protocols for end-to-end encryption, S/MIME (Secure / Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) and PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). With this method, each person has their own key, which is issued to their respective email address. The email is encrypted by the mail client before it is sent to the provider. This means that neither the recipient's provider nor the recipient's provider can access the content of the email.
S/MINE and PGP therefore offer a high level of security. complex because both the sender and the recipient have to participate. In addition, each party has to generate their own keys and exchange them securely. To make this as simple as possible, there are now a number of software solutions that automate the exchange of keys in end-to-end encryption and allow encryption and decryption to run centrally on the mail server.
S/MIME
In addition to secure encryption, the S/MIME protocol israel number dataset offers a signature function. This signature is comparable to a handwritten signature. The recipient can therefore be sure that the email actually comes from the corresponding sender. To implement S/MIME, an official certificate is required, which is issued by the so-called trust centers. The certificates are available with different security levels, ranging from checking the existence of an email address to a personal appearance with original documents at the certification authority. In order to open an email encrypted with S/MIME, the sender and recipient must exchange their certificates. These contain the public key with which the email is encrypted. The email is decrypted using the private key.
PGP
Unlike S/MIME, with PGP encryption the key pair is generated automatically. PGP is fundamentally based on the mutual trust of the two communication partners and does not require a central certification authority.
With PGP encryption, two key pairs are generated during installation. The first public key, which everyone can know, can be used to encrypt emails but not decrypt them. Both the sender and the recipient need this public key. In principle, however, everyone can know it, as the sender can publish it on their website, upload it to publicly accessible key servers, and send it. The public key also has a signature function to confirm authenticity. The second private and secret key is only intended for the recipient, who can use it to decrypt the email.