What if Petraeus was a hacker? Email privacy for the rest of us

Almost every day there are new revelations about violations of user's online privacy. Usually these infractions are for the monetary gain of an online entity, but at other times it can be part of censorship, a surveillance state or even a government breaking the law when accessing such data. Wit...

Almost every day there are new revelations about violations of user's online privacy. Usually these infractions are for the monetary gain of an online entity, but at other times it can be part of censorship, a surveillance state or even a government breaking the law when accessing such data. With email being so personal, webmail (which is generally hosted free of charge by for-profit providers) is a particularly vulnerable space where people are not doing enough to protect online privacy. When a highly decorated four-star general is brought down because he couldn't secure his online webmail, what hope do we have in terms of guaranteeing our own online privacy? The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 states that after 6 months, email messages lose their status as protected communication and no longer requires a warrant, only a subpoena, for a government agency to force email providers to produce copies of user's data. Online privacy is a right we have taken too lightly. Attendees of this talk will learn real world techniques that will enable them to make educated decisions about how to properly protect their webmail. Generally, you have little email privacy with US-based email services, so we will focus on offshore hosting where laws better regulate your data protection and online privacy. A survey of current options, with details from the speaker's own trials of multiple solutions, will provide a framework for you to replicate, allowing you the online email privacy everyone deserves. (This talk was given at B-Sides Las Vegas August 1st, 2013 at 1900)