"Securence" email service not so secure

goob · 15 Feb 2024, 01:43 AM

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/02/...stomer-emails/

"The Minnesota-based Internet provider U.S. Internet Corp. has a business unit called Securence, which specializes in providing filtered, secure email services to businesses, educational institutions and government agencies worldwide. But until it was notified last week, U.S. Internet was publishing more than a decade’s worth of its internal email — and that of thousands of Securence clients — in plain text out on the Internet and just a click away for anyone with a Web browser."

Well, that's an oopsie.

TenFour · 15 Feb 2024, 09:55 PM

The thing is you have no way of knowing what any email provider is doing with your emails and other data, so it comes down to trust in the end. I suppose you could encrypt your own email and only store it locally, but you still will have to communicate with other people who won't use whatever encryption service you use so your messages to them are likely to be stored at a provider where you will have no idea how they are being handled. For example, a company I do some business with needs my W9 tax form, which will have my social security number and other personal information on it. I suppose I could print it out and mail it to them, but by all accounts theft of physical mail is also a huge problem. I'll take my chances with regular email and hope for the best, and that is about all you can do.

15 Feb 2024, 01:43 AM	#1
goob Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 12	"Securence" email service not so secure https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/02/...stomer-emails/ "The Minnesota-based Internet provider U.S. Internet Corp. has a business unit called Securence, which specializes in providing filtered, secure email services to businesses, educational institutions and government agencies worldwide. But until it was notified last week, U.S. Internet was publishing more than a decade’s worth of its internal email — and that of thousands of Securence clients — in plain text out on the Internet and just a click away for anyone with a Web browser." Well, that's an oopsie.

15 Feb 2024, 09:55 PM	#2
TenFour Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: USA Posts: 1,746	The thing is you have no way of knowing what any email provider is doing with your emails and other data, so it comes down to trust in the end. I suppose you could encrypt your own email and only store it locally, but you still will have to communicate with other people who won't use whatever encryption service you use so your messages to them are likely to be stored at a provider where you will have no idea how they are being handled. For example, a company I do some business with needs my W9 tax form, which will have my social security number and other personal information on it. I suppose I could print it out and mail it to them, but by all accounts theft of physical mail is also a huge problem. I'll take my chances with regular email and hope for the best, and that is about all you can do.