{"id":136119,"date":"2018-04-13T15:37:28","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T21:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=136119"},"modified":"2018-04-15T18:46:08","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T00:46:08","slug":"gmails-new-self-destructing-confidential-emails-are-not-a-good-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/13\/gmails-new-self-destructing-confidential-emails-are-not-a-good-idea.html","title":{"rendered":"Gmail’s new self-destructing confidential emails are … not a good idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

It sounds<\/i> simple — when crafting an email, you can make it “confidential” (only for the recipient) and\/or self-destructing (expiring after a given period and not readable after that). Instead of a normal SMTP email message wafting off into the ether, an email is sent with a link to a secret page where the recipient, once they prove who they are, can see the message (but not copy it!) until it expires and is taken down.<\/p>\n

Sounds clever, but it’s really not.<\/p>\n

First off, the idea that nobody will be able to copy or otherwise save the email is just plain false. It sounds like copy-paste is disabled, but not screen capture. Heck, just use your phone to take a picture of it. Silliness.<\/p>\n

Second, the validation process (proving you are the intended recipient of the confidential email) sounds a bit onerous — responding to a text message, logging in, etc.<\/p>\n

Lastly, this sound like a fabulous<\/i> way of generating malware infections. Miscreants can send someone a message with a faked sender (easy), the standard confidential Gmail link text (easy), and a link that takes you somewhere bad (easy). How will you know it’s a trap until you’ve sprung it?<\/p>\n

Not all that confidential, inconvenient, and possibly dangerous. Hmmm. Yeah, as it stands, I won’t be using this feature, and won’t be recommending it to any one else.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nGoogle is testing self-destructing emails in new Gmail \u2013 TechCrunch<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It sounds simple — when crafting an email, you can make it “confidential” (only for the recipient) and\/or self-destructing (expiring after a given period and not readable after that). Instead of a normal SMTP email message wafting off into the ether, an email is sent with a link to a secret page where the recipient, … Continue reading “Gmail’s new self-destructing confidential emails are … not a good idea”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,3,375,56],"tags":[1496,119],"class_list":["post-136119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-blogging","category-computer-security","category-virii","tag-gmail","tag-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/gmail-logo-2018.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10420,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/20\/let_the_games_begin.html","url_meta":{"origin":136119,"position":0},"title":"Let the games begin","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 20-Jan-07 11:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Sen. 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