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Dear Digital Diva,
Is email secure? And what's that stuff about "ssl" when I
configure my mail program?
Actually, even though email is generally password-protected
(for instance, you need a password to logon to your webmail),
there are a number of reasons that it isn't secure. The first
is that email messages usually aren't encrypted; which means
that as they travel across the internet, from your computer
to a mail server, and then to the recipient's computer, emails
are basically like postcards, legible to anyone with access
to those computers and messages. Another vulnerability of
email is that many Internet Service Providers store copies
of email on their servers before they are delivered that may
remain on the server for up to several months, even if you
delete them from your mailbox.
The Barnard mail servers currently allow SSL connections, and
in the next month, Barnard mail servers will only be accepting
SSL connections, which means that if you download your email
to Thunderbird, Outlook, Apple Mail, or another mail application,
you'll need to configure your account to connect use SSL. You
can get more information about SSL connections on the Resnet
website.
SSL (short for Secure Sockets Layer) is a protocol for internet
communcations designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering,
and forgery. SSL uses two keys to encrypt the data, a public
key known to everyone and private key that uniquely identifies
individuals and servers. Many websites use SSL to obtain sensitive
user information, like credit card numbers. By convention,
URLs that require an SSL connection start with https: instead
of http:.
Dear Digital Diva,
How can I get in touch with Resnet? What if I need to tell
you something really important?!
There are a number of report forms on the Resnet
website that you can use to report a problem. They are often
the best way to let us know that something is broken or that
you need help. If you click on the Report
a Problem link on the left side of the Resnet site, you
can: