If your email what kinds of damage can a malicious actor do with a sqli attack?  has a poor track record for privacy, it’s likely hackers will target it. This is because emails contain lots of valuable data that hackers can use to breach corporate networks, stealing login credentials and confidential information. The fact that email is sent over non-secure networks is also a risk factor.

Some of the mainstream email providers like Gmail, Microsoft and Yahoo are not secure because they do not encrypt messages at all. Instead, they rely on Google’s automated algorithms to scan messages for keywords and serve you personalized ads. They are not very good at protecting their customers from cyberattacks either, as evidenced by a history of data breaches. These companies will also be at the mercy of governments that demand access to your inbox.

Digital Battlegrounds: Examining the Most Targeted Email Providers in the Hacking Landscape

The most secure email providers offer end-to-end encryption. This enables the sender to encrypt a message with a public key that is mathematically linked to a private key only known by the recipient. This means that neither the email service nor third parties can decrypt the email unless they have the private key. The most popular secure email providers use PGP and S/MIME encryption, which are based on symmetric and asymmetric cryptography respectively.

Edward Snowden used the Lavabit email provider to communicate with journalists when he leaked the NSA PRISM data in 2013. This is an example of an encrypted email that protects its users against government snooping and hacks. Other secure email services include Hushmail, Tutanota and Posteo.