A Mac Users Guide to Encrypted Email

Information has become a commodity. Insuring the information is private as well as authentic can be key in evaluating the worth of content. But one of the most overwhelming problems with encrypting email is the fact that most people don’t understand how to go about securing their messages. Encryption can be used to keep the contents of the email safe from prying eyes. It can also be used to certify that the message a person receives was actually issued by the individual listed in the messages from field. Email encryption is a complicated process that is simply convoluted for the average computer user. Mac users are no exception, so here’s a rundown on the ins and outs of encrypted email.

Most web mail services lack the advanced features required to encrypt email messages beyond communication with people in the same domain. As a result, an email client application is required. Most mature email applications offer support for encrypted messages. On the Mac, the big names are Apple Mail and Microsoft Entourage. Since Entourage is my email client of choice (one that I regret on a weekly basis at times), we’ll mainly cover that. Its worth noting that Entourage is actually more complicated to configure for encryption than Apple Mail which in some ways makes the configuration process almost invisible.