Email Hosting Privacy
Email hosting privacy requires end to end encryption across the transmission layer in combination with strong password, inbox, and platform security. ScalaHosting email plans provide anti-spam filtering, malware protection, and anti-virus scanning tools for proactive protection against malicious hacking attacks. The easiest solution is to add an SSL certificate.
This article provides an overview of the main email protocols for email message transfer to users and the ways that ScalaHosting’s SShield adds an extra layer of platform security.
1. What is Email Hosting Privacy?
A ScalaHosting Business Email plan includes a fully-managed mail server that can be configured to support single or multiple domain names. When user email accounts are added, there needs to be extra concern about the password and inbox security for data privacy.
Password security can support a single or multiple users per inbox. For example, if you have an info@domain.com or support@domain.com email address, login access can be granted to multiple users with the same password. Otherwise, users rely on a unique password for security.
An email server uses the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to verify the owner of the domain and confirm authenticity to other web servers. This helps to avoid spam attacks where others may attempt to use your email address. Setting up an SPF record will add an extra layer of security.
In order to establish email hosting privacy, users need to encrypt the sending and receiving of messages to the web server. If you use webmail with your domain, ScalaHosting will provide a free SSL certificate for TLS encryption of your connections through mail clients and a browser.
It is recommended to adopt a multi-tiered approach to data privacy, beginning with the Privacy Policy of the platform. For a fully-managed email server solution from ScalaHosting, you should enable the additional protocols and standards listed below to protect your email privacy.
Password Security
Password security is important in maintaining email hosting privacy for all users in a business organization. The hacking of mail servers is automated by script-driven bots that search common addresses and ports for access. Password security protects against easy hacking.
Automated script bot attacks on email addresses are protected by ScalaHosting’s SShield which detects malicious behavior on the network and blacklists hacker domains by IP address. By applying our network security rules to your email server, ScalaHosting guards your privacy.
Inbox Security
The use of email attachments in phishing, virus, trojan, and malware campaigns leads to the need for heightened inbox security for organizations. Email attachments carry disguised files to a local machine which can be infected if executed. Attachment files are not run on mail servers.
To protect your email inbox, you need to enable the anti-spam scanning on the ScalaHosting Business email plans. This will automatically block malware with attachments and exclude known spam domains with blacklisting. SShield also guards inbox security against hacking.
Transmission Layer Encryption
In order to guarantee data privacy on email hosting, it is important to add encryption across all connections to the mail server. On ScalaHosting’s Business Email plans, this is done with a free SSL certificate in SPanel automatically when you add the domain name to the account.
In order to use an encrypted channel for email communications with the mail server, you need to configure the port that the client will connect to specifically, otherwise you will risk sending email over unencrypted connections where they are open to sniffing by network agents or malware.
Platform Security
ScalaHosting maintains mail server security by applying network rules developed from historical activity and machine learning to each client account as part of our free SShield solution. SShield eliminates most of the hacking attacks before they can cause harm to business user accounts.
SShield makes ScalaHosting one of the best secure email providers for small businesses, startups, online ecommerce, SMEs, and brands. Our Corporate Email hosting plans with SShield will support secure email services for complex organizations with privacy and security for domains.
2. Email Protocols
Email protocols are standardized across the internet for use on mail servers, determining how messages are sent and received. The implementation of an SSL certificate for end to end encryption across transmissions works with POP, IMAP, and SMTP connections in the client.
POP
Post Office Protocol (POP) is a mail server protocol that is used with popular client software like Thunderbird, Outlook, and Gmail. In order to use your SSL certificate to protect email privacy on POP connections, you will have to set your client to connect through port 995 instead of 110.
IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) differs from POP by not deleting the messages on a mail server after they are downloaded. Instead, you can bookmark, label, mark as spam, etc. as required for management. Use port 993 for SSL encryption on transfers instead of port 143.
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the most commonly supported email protocol across clients, in use since 1970. SMTP is used mostly as a fallback option to maintain compatibility on a broad basis between a mail server and clients. Use port 465 for encryption instead of port 25.
3. Simple Policy Framework (SPF)
After end to end encryption, the Simple Policy Framework (SPF) provides another way for secure email services to operate with verification of authorized domain ownership. This is primarily to prevent mail server spoofing by malicious users or spammers imitating a domain.
Learn More about SPF Records: “An SPF record is a DNS record that indicates to mail exchanges the authorized host to send mails for a domain. It detects forged sender addresses during email delivery, thus helping to authenticate emails.”
SPF Records
In order to set up a custom SPF record on a ScalaHosting Business Email plan, you will need to go to SPanel and open up the DNS Settings to create a new TXT record. Use an SPF Record Generator service to create a custom value for the mail server to verify domain ownership.
SPF Record Generators
In order to use a custom SPF Record with your ScalaHosting Business Email plan, sign up for one of the services listed below to create the TXT record value:
- MxToolBox SPF Record Generator
- DMARC Analyzer SPF Record Generator
- PowerDMARC SPF Record Generator
- MailWizz SPF Record Generator
- ZeroBounce SPF Generator
An email service that protects your privacy should include a custom SPF record for two factor authentication of the point of origin. The use of a custom SPF record increases the data security of your business organization at minimal overhead cost for network resources and hardware.
4. Cybersecurity
Your email also requires cybersecurity that protects sensitive data from hacking and prevents viruses, trojans, phishing attacks, malware, etc. before it reaches an endpoint device. The traditional operation of a network firewall is provided on ScalaHosting mail servers by SShield.
Where other email security records are preventative, SShield is proactive at scanning requests to a mail server and preventing malicious attacks by script-driven bots. By applying machine learning to network activity, ScalaHosting offers the best secure email on Business plans.
Anti-Spam Filtering
Anti-spam filtering is available on all ScalaHosting email accounts across both SPanel and cPanel servers. Email hosting privacy is increased through anti-spam measures that prevent malicious files and activity from entering the inbox. This ensures that virus files are not run.
Anti-Virus Scanning
The firewall capabilities of SShield extend to anti-virus scanning for know viruses, ransomware, trojans, and malware. Virus files are quarantined on the network as soon as they are discovered, rather than being delivered to your business. This ensures to protect your privacy.
Malware Protection
Your privacy is at risk by malware as an entry point to data theft and loss of sensitive financial information. Losing customer data can result in liabilities against an ecommerce or social networking company. SShield offers the best proactive firewall protection for mail servers.
5. Conclusion
End to end encryption is the most important aspect to configure for your ScalaHosting Business Email hosting plan. The addition of a custom SPF Record will protect the interests of your business with a more secure email service. This guarantees you will have private email.
ScalaHosting is a secure email provider that is fully managed in the cloud and fully interoperable with all major email client software. The free version of ScalaHosting’s email plan is included for every domain hosted on our platform. SShield guarantees the safety of accounts.
The best way to protect your privacy is to combine preventative measures like password security, anti-spam filtering, and cloud storage scanning for viruses with an easy-to-use solution that offers email services for multiple domains. Then you can customize inbox security totally.
6. FAQ
Q: What is a secure email service?
A: Secure email services at ScalaHosting include a fully managed web server with all platform software updates and maintenance over time. The platform provides SPanel for domain name and email account management, along with SShield for firewall and anti-virus capabilities.
Q: What is a private email service?
A: A private email service allows you to run your own mail server with customization. A public email service provider like Gmail or Microsoft Outlook can be contrasted with a private service. All third party email to a domain needs to be managed by a public or private service provider.
Q: What is to end to end encryption for email?
A: End to end encryption allows you to connect to the mail server to send and receive messages over a secure connection. The use of SSL certificates for TLS encryption with a private email server is the best solution for email hosting privacy. You need to configure the port for support.
Q: Can I send encrypted emails to users with ScalaHosting?
A: The use of encryption with an SSL certificate does not include an encrypted email service. You will need to implement a third-party solution on a VPS or dedicated server for this capacity.
Q: How to protect your privacy on Android and iOS?
A: The best way to operate with privacy and security on mobile devices is to use ScalaHosting’s webmail capacity or a third-party service provider like Gmail or Outlook to receive mail.
