gmail is one of the most popular email providers in the world, with over a billion active users. however, a very small percentage of them ever consider how insecure it is.
It is well known that Google analyzes the emails of its users to collect data about them and give it to advertisers. most people consider it unavoidable and not particularly dangerous. but not many gmail users realize that their emails in transit can be intercepted by third parties.
There are a few ways to make your emails more secure. gmail offers some options, and there are third-party apps and extensions that offer some form of encryption. however, its services do not always work as users expect.
Your business, personal and financial information is constantly at risk of being leaked, either on purpose or accidentally. learn how you can protect yourself and send secure email attachments in gmail.
Does gmail offer encryption?
yes, gmail uses standard tls encryption which automatically encrypts all outgoing emails. however, the tls protocol only works if the recipient also has it. If your friend or colleague is using an email provider that doesn’t offer tls encryption, all emails you send to them will be unencrypted.
Also, tls does not mean end-to-end encryption. therefore it can be intercepted at the mail server. Additionally, Google can still scan the information in a TLS-encrypted email and give it to third parties. therefore, it is not a reliable way to send secure emails and attachments.
confidential mode in gmail
In 2018, Gmail launched a new feature: Confidential Mode. allows users to send emails that recipients cannot forward, copy, print, or download. You can also set an expiration date on your messages, create access codes, and revoke the recipient’s access to email.
While it seems like a more secure way to send and receive sensitive information, it has little to do with actual confidentiality. in other words, it just prevents the recipient from accidentally sharing something. however, it does not prevent them from taking screenshots of the email content. Confidential mode also has no end-to-end encryption, which means that gmail, as well as other providers, can scan and store your emails.
how to encrypt your emails and attachments
update your account
One way to make your daily messages more secure is to upgrade your standard Gmail account to a paid G Suite Enterprise or G Suite Education account. these offer s/mime (secure/multipurpose internet mail extensions) encryption, which is much stronger than tls. allows users to encrypt their emails with user-specific keys that you must share with the recipient. it also allows users to see the level of encryption their email has: s/mime, tls, or none.
however, s/mime encryption will not prevent googlebots from crawling your emails. worse still, it only works if both sender and receiver have it enabled. therefore, if your recipient uses an email service without encryption, the emails they send you will also not be encrypted, regardless of the protocol they use.
find another email provider
Unfortunately, Gmail is not the best option for users who want to be able to send secure emails.
Getting a new email address can be a hassle, but if security is what you’re looking for, it’s a good way to start. When looking for a new email provider, keep an eye out for things like end-to-end encryption, zero-knowledge policy, and guaranteed encryption, no matter what email service your recipients use.
use encryption software
Finding a way to encrypt the emails you send is a challenging task. google solutions are not reliable. you can use third-party plugins, but they are often not easy to use. most of them require a password or a key that you then have to share with your recipient through other channels. and even if you use s/mime encryption or an extension, it only encrypts the message, not the rest of the email. if you are looking for a bulletproof solution to send secure email attachments, this is not a good option.
If you want to continue using gmail, the only way to protect your attachments is to encrypt them beforehand. this way, even if the email itself is intercepted or forwarded, the attachments will be unreadable by anyone except their recipient.
using nordlocker is a quick and easy way to protect the files you share online. you don’t need to trust your email provider to keep your data safe; you can do it yourself. NordLocker’s AES-256 and RSA 4096-bit encryption algorithms, along with our zero-knowledge process, ensure that no one besides you and your recipient will be able to open the files you encrypt.
Hard drives can be lost or stolen, cloud storage services suffer from security breaches, and anything you send over the internet can be intercepted. By using NordLocker, you protect your files so they are never exposed to third parties. If you decide you no longer want to share a particular file, you can revoke access to it from anyone you’ve shared it with. this way you can always control your data and make sure it’s safe.