Help me choose a new email program

[Sidewinder]

The issue is Calltronics with the EU data protection laws.

US servers are not covered.

This is one of thethe next "big" things, like "big data" & SMART technology, which will all be shown up to be insecure.

Shamelessly stolen but hey ho.

SMART stands for

Surveillance

Marketed

As

Revolutionary

Technology

 

[calltronics]

No good for me though Duck, nor you really if you use your personal email for work.

Data Protection & all that.

To such an extent, that we are looking at in house (literally) hosted Exchange Server for compliance!

Nope - not the real solution anymore.

This provides a more vulnerable environment and not recommended anymore for compliance unless you have authorised and independently approved firewalls and not just the standard windows firewalls.

if you want your own Exchange server do what everyone does in this modern world and put it in the cloud.

"Data Protection & all that", it has nothing to do with data protection, unless you openly allow everyone access to your information thereby sharing information without the owners permission data protection act plays no part in computer security.

Let the professionals be responsible for the security they do it better.

Choose a reputable host provider and leave security to them and ignore the scare mongers.

As for compliance then ask the inspectors or clients who hosts their mail servers, if they are of any size (20+ employees)  it will almost definitely be in the cloud; more cost effective

 

[Sidewinder]

Nope - not the real solution anymore.

This provides a more vulnerable environment and not recommended anymore for compliance unless you have authorised and independently approved firewalls and not just the standard windows firewalls.

if you want your own Exchange server do what everyone does in this modern world and put it in the cloud.

"Data Protection & all that", it has nothing to do with data protection, unless you openly allow everyone access to your information thereby sharing information without the owners permission data protection act plays no part in computer security.

Let the professionals be responsible for the security they do it better.

Choose a reputable host provider and leave security to them and ignore the scare mongers.

As for compliance then ask the inspectors or clients who hosts their mail servers, if they are of any size (20+ employees)  it will almost definitely be in the cloud; more cost effective

I think that my client hosts it's own servers, well I would hope so, or that at least the UK Government would have adequate security.

I have no intention of using Windows firewalls.

The NHS does not share your view of data protection, data security and data sharing from what I have been told during my meetings with them it seems calltronics.

So all of the recent publicised hacks into large organisations have been better security than no physical access to the network that the servers are connected to.

Along with suitable software & hardware security which is certified as so called "banking" level security, which is really pretty poor, because recently banks have been hacked.

The advantage we have is that we can limit the allowable IP ranges that can connect, so, that limits the number of potential origins of hacks.

Spoofed IP's I hear you say, OK, fine, but, they have to know that first.

Then they have to have a good user name & password, etc. etc. etc.

We have  VERY limited number of allowed users, so we can lock the allowable access down tight.

 

[NozSpark]

OK, so I have Thunderbird on my Ubuntu laptop..... I have all my email accounts set up as IMAP so that I can view them on all my devices instead of being downloaded to the first device that reads them and then being lost to my other devices...

If I ask it to save an email it does it in .eml format

 

[ProDave]

Thanks Noz.

Does it cope with multiple accounts okay? i.e you can clearly see which mail is from which account, and can easily select which one to send from.

If you create a local folder called "work emails" and copy your mail there, do they get stored in a similar physical folder onthe pc as individual .eml files?

Will it still do POP3 if you want it to?

 

[NozSpark]

Here's a screen shot for you.... I have 4 accounts on there,,, incoming mail is indicated by a blue BOLD number

Like I said,,,, all my emails are IMAP so they are not stored on any of my devices unless I save them....

You can drag and drop an email and move it from one folder to another,,, across accounts

When you create an email... by clicking on the "write" button just under the tab... It allows you to select the "From" account... It'll also autofill any signatures, dependant on the "From" address

 

[Sidewinder]

Thunderbird is, AFAIK, virtually a drop in M$ Outlook replacement.

So, PD it SHOULD do all you want.

It just depends on whether you set your emails up as IMAP or POP3.

Also how you file them.

I use Outlook, as many as I can are IMAP, I then file them to an Outlook PST file for archiving and then back that up to my Synology.

I don't like, nor do my key customers, as you can see from above, like my emails being on an external server.

 

[apprentice87]

Hi Prodave,

I know nothing of computers, When my old one on windows XP complete with outlook express died, i was gutted..

When i got a new one [with win8 i think it is] i had a BIG problem. IF i wanted outlook, i would have to have the full version of MS office i think it was and it cost a fortune. Besides, outlook is much more complicated than outlook express..

As asked someone i know, and that said to get Mozilla Thunderbird as they said it is the closest to what i was used to.

It was free, i installed it, and........ Delighted!! not much different to what i was used to, AND, it opens all my old stored MS outlook "EML"???? emails, AND i can reply to them, is is just like having the "old" system. [more or less]

I was told about all this; "store your emails somewhere else" lettuced, but i did not want it either. So far as i am concerned i will look after my own data thank you, NOT give it to someone else that might go out of business tomorow for all i know.

The shop tried to get me to buy a subscription to some "cloud" lettuced and said it would only cost me what ever it was for about a TENTH of what i would need for all my photos, [about 30,000 of them!]

So yes, Thunderbird will work with your "old" emails, you can set it to store your emails on your computer, and it will be good and reliable too!!

john....

 

[Apache]

Worth noting that you can have MS Office now on a 365 day 'subscription' on up to 5 machines for £60 

That is £1/month/machine

I'm happy with that.

 

[calltronics]

I think that my client hosts it's own servers, well I would hope so, or that at least the UK Government would have adequate security.

I have no intention of using Windows firewalls.

The NHS does not share your view of data protection, data security and data sharing from what I have been told during my meetings with them it seems calltronics.

So all of the recent publicised hacks into large organisations have been better security than no physical access to the network that the servers are connected to.

Along with suitable software & hardware security which is certified as so called "banking" level security, which is really pretty poor, because recently banks have been hacked.

The advantage we have is that we can limit the allowable IP ranges that can connect, so, that limits the number of potential origins of hacks.

Spoofed IP's I hear you say, OK, fine, but, they have to know that first.

Then they have to have a good user name & password, etc. etc. etc.

We have  VERY limited number of allowed users, so we can lock the allowable access down tight.

You confused me with the use of the phrase "data protection" and data security, with the Data Protection act. The latter which I was referring to has no application on data security legal or otherwise, other than if by your actions you publically make the private data freely available. People often quote the data protection act to cover all sorts of internet and communication issues, completely out of context and application. I am sure we have all been told "can not tell you that due to data protection", very, very much used without any legitimate reference to the actual principles of the  Data Protection Act and its laws.

The Data Protection Act uses the term "Safe and Secure" and the all encompassing "7th Principle" with no definition of the specific level or requirements, it is your client that is setting the standard. If it is personal sensitive data then the request is understandable.

I understand your belt and braces approach in employing your own server and protection to gain the approval of your client. Personally I think the incorporation of your own solution not only costs significantly more, but also provides an unqualified data security. Albeit you believe it to be the most secure and managed system on the planet, you still have to convince your client that you have achieved this state and more importantly the ongoing management procedures are all in place going forward. The main downside is it leaves your company open to negligent claims should anything happen.

Believe me both the government and NHS outsource most of their data management hosts and systems.

Let another UK or EU company have the responsibility and headache of management, protection and approval inspections.

With regard to referral to hacks no matter how secure you make your system, if the information you have is profitable then its worth hacking and it is possible. Just look at what has been admitted in the news and then imagine what has been kept from public!!

All it takes is one disgruntled employee to "hack" their employers system.