What Is Email Encryption? How to Encrypt Email
Learn how email encryption works, what problems it solves, and the main options for encrypting messages in transit and at rest.
Why Encrypt Email?
Standard email was not designed with strong privacy in mind. Messages often travel across multiple servers in plain text, where administrators, attackers, or automated systems may be able to read them. Email encryption addresses this by scrambling message contents so that only authorized recipients can read them.
Encrypting email is particularly important when sending sensitive information such as personal data, financial details, contracts, or confidential business discussions.
Transport Encryption vs. End-to-End Encryption
Transport encryption, such as TLS between mail servers, protects messages while they are in transit across networks. It prevents passive eavesdroppers from reading traffic but does not stop mail providers themselves from accessing content.
End-to-end encryption goes further by encrypting the message on the sender’s device and decrypting it only on the recipient’s device. Technologies like PGP and S/MIME use public-key cryptography to achieve this, but they require key management and compatible email clients, which can make adoption more complex.
Practical Ways to Encrypt Your Email
For many users, enabling "always use HTTPS" in webmail and ensuring mail providers support TLS for server-to-server connections is a good baseline. Some providers offer optional "confidential mode" or encrypted message portals for especially sensitive communications.
For stronger guarantees, consider using a dedicated encrypted email provider or configuring PGP/S/MIME in your email client, especially for professional scenarios where confidentiality is critical. Regardless of the method, remember that subject lines, metadata, and attachments may require special handling to be fully protected.