Comodo Secure Email
Although every user on the Internet is using email to communicate, only few encrypt emails or use digital certificates for authentication and verification purposes.
The main reason may be the feeling that the process of encrypting emails or certifying them is a complicated process that requires technical know-how. It is additionally necessary to convince friends, contacts, and business partners to secure email accounts as well or use technology to at least verify the authenticity of the sender.
It does not make sense to encrypt emails if the receiver cannot read them because they don't know how to decrypt the emails.
Basically what it comes down to is that most Internet users see it as complicated and a nuisance that may not be worth the effort. Comodo Secure Email is a free for personal use product by popular software developer Comodo that removed the complexity from the process.
Note: Comodo discontinued Secure Email. The program is no longer supported or available, and a comparable program is not available either. End
Comodo Secure Email
Secure Email was compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows XP or Windows Vista and integrated itself in popular email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird.
A software wizard walked users through the process of creating a digital certificate that would be used for a selected email address that users picked from available addresses. Users had to enter the name and the email address, and Comodo's program would generate the certificate automatically.
Secure Email started to sign outgoing emails digitally after setup and encrypted them as well if the contact had provided the user with a public key. The whole process was automated and the user in front of the monitor did not have to worry about acquiring digital certificates or exchanging public keys.
Secure Email was also capable of scanning all mails in the email client for encrypted emails that the user might have received in the past. One of the biggest advantages of Comodo Secure Email was the automatic integration in the mail client. It integrated itself automatically on a test client that used mail accounts from various email providers and Mozilla Thunderbird.
Another interesting feature of Secure Mail was the ability to create unique single use email certificates even without knowing the recipients public key. The recipient has two options to read the email: Install Comodo Secure Email or read the email message on the Comodo website.
Secure Email Features:
- Simple and Easy to use. Fast set-up and automatic encryption and signing of outgoing emails makes it easy for even non-technical users to enjoy private and secure messaging
- Session certificates take the application beyond traditional PKI infrastructures by allowing users to encrypt messages even when they don't have their contacts' email certificate installed.
- Web reader service - on-line interface allows your recipient to read mail that you encrypted with a session certificate
- Encryption when your mail client doesn't support encryption - Comodo SecureEmail operates at the network layer and provides encryption and signing capabilities if your mail client doesn't have encryption in its feature set
- Automatic certificate exchange and installation - SecureEmail's notification system ensures both sender and recipient are instantly updated with each others certificates
- Built-in wizard for easy sign-up and installation of Comodo E-mail Certificates (Home version allows home and personal users to quickly sign up for a free Comodo email certificate. Pro version of the software enables business customers to easily purchase Comodo corporate e-mail certificates.)
- Automatically imports relevant mail settings from all major mail clients to ensure the fastest possible set-up time
- You're in control - granular configuration of settings means the application will work to your security preferences, not the other way around
The biggest advantage of Secure Email is the ease of use. It requires virtually no configuration after adding the email accounts to the system. The only change that users might want to make is to disable the email popup notifications that are activated by default. This can be changed in the program's settings.
Update: Please note that you need to sign up to receive a certificate. You need to supply your name, country, email address, and set a revocation password as well.
A major concern that you didn’t mention: what if two people use the same filename? I assume this will simply overwrite the earlier file, rather than adding an incremental number or using some other method to avoid overwriting.
To avoid that, you have to “add ingredients” using the big blue plus sign in the “File Name” area when setting up the Dropbox section of the recipe. I had mine use sender address, time received, AND file name (in case someone sends the same filename twice and I want both copies, which could happen if they use some boilerplate name like “NewDocument1”).
Is not Dropbox using copies of files automatically in this case? But good point, need to investigate this.
I have tested it, only on Google Drive but still. Same name attachments are stored as well. You end up with several same name files in the same folder structure but that is okay I guess.
They are poor variations of cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox or Microsoft’s OneDrive.) because they have specific limitations which do not make them idea as a cloud storage even for personal use. They don’t allow executable files (EXE, COM, BAT) to be uploaded or saved on their servers. I have purchase a few programs from online sources and want to save them in a cloud for easy access on the go. “Google Drive, Dropbox or Microsoft’s OneDrive.”, do not allow executable files so aren’t really a good choice for cloud storage or drop box option.
So MediaFire or Firedrive to the rescue. Both allow executable files uploaded, saved and shared (Mediafire checks copyrights of the files shared). Plus for programmers, who need to allow a few individuals to download a specific file or folder to beta test a program, Mediafire and Firedrive are great resources. Firedrive allows online chat and messaging between Dropbox and shared file users. But as they are based in UK their download speed is not consistent for all Canada/USA users.
I’ve never seen that limitation on Dropbox – I’ve been storing dozens of .exe and .bat files there for years. I thought maybe you were referring only to the web uploader (I never use it – my files are all uploaded from synchronized folders), but I just tested it and it works. Maybe you should give Dropbox another look.
Another limitation: it apparently can only pull in one attachment. I usually wouldn’t have a use for this, but right now I am accepting job applications via email, so I was excited to try it out. I’ve received two so far, and both used multiple attachments for cover letter, resume, and references. In both cases, only one attachment made it into Dropbox. The recipe “ingredient” in IFTTT is “FirstAttachmentPrivateURL”, and there are no options other than “First…”.
Of course, if you are asking people to send attachments, you could always specify to include just one file per email.
They could also pack multiple files into a single archive.
Because of this, I chose to have IFTTT just save all attachments instead of filtering to a specific sender or label. Multiple attachments worked just fine after that, though of course now I have various other attachments mixed in.
I know this is an old comment, but it seems this solution should be mentioned.
My main issue is that it doesn’t have the option of overwriting the old file, which puts a roadblock in my automation, as updated files must have a consistent name. Likely adding yet another online service to the mix to remedy that.
@Martin: While a too-technical step for many people, asking for a zipped file might be a really nice test of computer literacy if hiring for a very technical job.
“You can change the folder path where those files are transferred to however”
Do you just change one or more?
File URL
File name
Dropbox folder path
My dropbox folder name for example is John Smith……………however the path to get there is John Work/Clients/Jane Client