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The Basics:
If all you want is secure, free web-based email then just sign up for the MailSECURE service and bookmark the main page to sign in. Keep in mind that the free service requires you to sign in every 3 weeks or your account will be de-activated. There is also a very helpful setting in the preferences area of your MailSECURE account that allows you to send a notification message to your standard email address whenever a secure email arrives in your MailSECURE inbox. This saves you from having to check your secure email account every few hours for new messages.
All webmail users have access to:
- Spam filtering & virus scanning to keep your Inbox clean.
- File storage & sharing with other MailSecure and Hushmail users.
- Unlimited number of contacts.
- External POP3 access to other email accounts.
- Secure email sending and receiving for easy encrypted communication with contacts at any email address,.
- MailSECURE Messenger for secure instant messaging.
- Email notification so that you are alerted to each incoming secure email via your standard email account.
- Read receipts, auto-responders, drafts, and templates.
- Extensive help resources.
- Digital signatures for email and attachments.
- End-to-end encryption for email and files.
- 2048 bit encryption with full OpenPGP support.
- Hushtools, a superb encryption toolkit.
If you are like most of our Customers, you will want more secure online storage and functionality.
Our Premium Customers also have access to:
- Desktop access to send and receive mail with Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple OS X Mail and more.
- 250 MB storage for email and secure file storage accessible via internet anywhere / anytime.
- Large attachments up to 25 MB.
- Unlimited pseudonyms to protect your email identity.
- Technical support for quick answers.
- No advertisements.
- No deactivation due to inactivity.
so upgrading to a PREMIUM account makes sense for most users - especially if you send more than 10 secure emails per month.
It is important to note that both a Premium account and IMAP access are required in order to enable secure email access for your default desktop email application. The cost for this upgrade is $44.98 per year or $3.75 per month... less than a cup of good coffee!
Once IMAP Access is enabled, you'll find account information for your desktop email program in the "Preferences" section of your Hushmail account.
Below you will find instructions on how to install the desktop software for your premium MailSECURE account as well as background information on how MailSECURE works. If you still have questions, feel free to contact us. Please note that you need to be able to send and receive email through your MailSECURE account before proceeding.
Installing into Outlook
To setup secure email services for Outlook XP and Outlook 2003.
To setup secure email services for Outlook 2000.
To setup secure email services for Outlook Express.
To enable MailSECURE features from within Outlook download the Outlook Plugin.
User Guide for the Outlook Plugin.
Installing into other PC based email applications
To setup secure email services for Thunderbird.
To setup secure email services for Eudora.
To setup secure email services for Netscape.
Installing into Mail for Apple OS X
You may wish to print the following instructions before beginning.
1. Sign into your MailSECURE account to download and save your public and private keys to your Mac desktop.
These are available in "Preferences" menu under "Export Encryption Keys (Advanced)" at the bottom of the page.
First, export the public keys then enter your Passphrase and export your private keys to your Mac desktop. To ensure your privacy and the security of your data, do not allow anyone else access to your computer until you have completed the following steps.
2. Still in your MailSECURE preferences area, go to the section labeled "Desktop Access setup information". If this does not exist or does not contain data, please upgrade your account to Premium plus IMAP services before proceeding. Keep this page open in your browser, you will need it in a moment.
Open your Mail application on your Mac and then the Preferences pane and then the ACCOUNTS tab. On the lower left corner of the window click on the + sign to add a new account.
- Account Type: IMAP
- Account Description: MailSECURE
- Full Name: (your full name)
- Email Address: (your email address @mailsecure.ch
Hit the CONTINUE button in Mail then go back to your browser to copy the Incoming server (IMAP) name from your MailSECURE account.
example: mailserver4.hushmail.com
Now, go back to Mail and paste this server's name into the appropriate field.
Then input your MailSECURE account name and password (for desktop access) again from the MailSECURE preferences page, into the appropriate fields in Mail
Hit the CONTINUE button in Mail then go back to your browser to copy the Outgoing mail server (SMTP) name from your MailSECURE account.
example: smtp.hushmail.com
Now, paste this into the Outgoing Mail Server field in Mail and check the box for "Use Authentication"
User Name: input your email address @mailsecure.ch and the password is the same one we entered above (for desktop access)
Hit the CONTINUE button in Mail and it will try to validate the SMTP settings and complete your setup.
If you are having difficulties and would like an alternative method of setting up this part of the process Click here.
3. Download and install the following GnuPG packages onto your Mac:
- GNU Privacy Guard
- GPG Keychain Access
- GPG Preferences
GnuPG is a free OpenPGP client (PGP = Pretty Good Privacy). It can encrypt text (usually e-mail or other messages sent between people) and sign text to prove who wrote it. All of the packages above are available for download here. Simply scroll down to the "Files" area and select the appropriate packages for your operating system and save each of the packages listed above onto your computer.
Locate these packages on your Mac and install each beginning with GnuPG.
- GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG): Double-click the installation package and follow the installation wizard
- GPG Keychain Access (GPGKA): unzip the archive you downloaded, drag the GPGKA application into your applications folder and launch it. Then select IMPORT and locate the public keys you saved to your desktop in step 1 above. GPGKA will launch a few terminal windows which you can close after noting successful completion of the import then use the IMPORT icon in the application to import your private keys (be sure to activate the checkbox ALLOW SECRET KEY IMPORT). When you have successfully completed both imports, you can quit the GPGKA application. Now, we'll add the keyserver to retrieve public keys for your
MailSECURE and Hushmail contacts. In the "Preferences" window select the KEY SERVER tab and add "ldap://keys.hush.com:389" without the quotes. You can now quit the GPGKA application.
- GPG Preferences: Launch the package you downloaded and double-click on the GnuPG.prefPane installer. Then be sure to ALWAYS USE UTF-8 as string encoding when you are prompted for an answer.
4. Now, download the latest version of the GPGMail plugin and launch the installer script (Install GPGMail) which will let you know if the installation was successful and will automatically launch Mail for you when the installation process has completed.
5. Test the implementation by creating a new email message in Mail and use the appropriate PGP options (below the subject line). Be sure to send a secure message to someone with a MailSECURE account or a hushmail account. Sending secure messages with your desktop Mail application to persons that do not have PGP implemented on their machines will not work in the current version of PGPMail software - sorry.
If you need to send secure messages to persons who use standard (non-secure) email services - please use your account on our website for this purpose.
FYI: Secure outgoing email can only be sent from your authenticated MailSECURE address.
You are now able to send and receive encrypted email using Mac Mail!
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MailSECURE uses industry standard algorithms
as specified by the Open PGP standard (RFC
2440) to ensure the security,
privacy and authenticity of your email. With
MailSECURE, users need only create and
remember their own pass phrases, and the
secure MailSECURE server does the rest.
Encryption and decryption are transparent to
the user, making MailSECURE the most
user-friendly secure mail solution
available. Through the Hush Encryption
EngineĀ, the key servers take care of
Public/Private key exchange in a completely
seamless fashion. When a user wishes to
encrypt/decrypt data or verify/sign a
signature, a connection is automatically
made to a MailSECURE Key Server to retrieve
the necessary Public/Private Key. It's that
simple! Only MailSECURE's solution provides
such a high level of security combined with
total ease of use. The descriptions below
will give you an overview of how the
MailSECURE system makes email Simple, Secure
and Safe.
Step 1
2,048 bits of random numbers are converted
into a pair of keys -- one private key and
one public key. (What the public key locks,
the private key unlocks, and vice-versa.)
Every MailSECURE user will have his or her
unique pair of encryption keys. The user's
pass phrase encrypts and decrypts the user's
private key so that no one but the user ever
has access to it. Not even our staff at
MailSECURE.
Step 2
The pass phrase, combined with the AES
algorithm, symmetrically encrypts the
private key. A one-time message key, unique
to each email that is sent, is used to
encrypt and decrypt the email message
itself.
Step 3
The message key, which is a component of the
AES algorithm, encrypts the email. The
recipient's public key is used to encrypt
the message key.
Step 4
The message key is asymmetrically encrypted
using the recipient's public key. Both the
encrypted email and the encrypted message
key are combined and sent to the recipient.
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The email may only be decrypted by using
the one-time message key.
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The message key can only be decrypted by
using the recipient's private key.
-
The recipient's private key can only be
decrypted by entering the recipient's
personal pass phrase.
Step
5
The encrypted email and the encrypted message key are sent to
the recipient. So, not only is the email
securely coded before it is ever stored on a
server, but the key to decode the email is
also encoded. Further, the private key
needed to decrypt this key is also
encrypted. Only the recipient can retrieve
their private key by entering their secret
personal passphrase.
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