Email hacking

OPSEC warning military personnel not to use email accounts with weak security.

Email hacking is illicit access to an email account or email correspondence.

As email has increasingly replaced traditional post for important correspondence, there have been several notable cases in which email has been intercepted by other people for illicit purposes. Email archives from the Climatic Research Unit were leaked to create the scandal popularly known as Climategate. The email accounts of politicians such as Sarah Palin have been hacked to try to find embarrassing or incriminating correspondence. Individuals such as Rowenna Davis have had their accounts taken over and held to ransom by criminals who try to extort payment for their return. Journalists employed by News International hacked email accounts of celebrities in search of gossip and scandal for their stories.

Email on the internet is now commonly sent by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). This does not encrypt the text of emails and so intercepted mail can be read easily unless the user adds their own encryption. The identity of the sender or addressee of an email is not authenticated and this provides opportunities for abuse such as spoofing.

Email may be protected by methods such as a strong password, encryption of the contents or a digital signature. An email disclaimer may be used to warn unauthorised readers but these are thought to be ineffective.