What is Email and How Does it Work?

E-mails have dominated all over the world and are increasingly replacing letters, faxes, and telegrams. The prerequisites for using electronic messages are an e-mail account, a computer, and an Internet connection. How do emails actually work and how secure are they? We will clarify this in this article.
 

What is Email?

The term e-mail is an abbreviation for ‘electronic mail’. This involves sending and receiving computer-based messages.
 

 

The spread of emails

E-mails have dominated all over the world and are increasingly replacing letters, faxes, and telegrams. The prerequisites for using electronic messages are an e-mail account, a computer, and an Internet connection. As a rule, an e-mail is sent within just a few seconds and therefore reaches the recipient quickly. Since the message is stored in the inbox, the recipient doesn’t need to be online to receive it. In this way, the received e-mails can be called up whenever you want and also worldwide.

E-mails are used for both private and professional intention. Since there are no restrictions on the maximum length, this medium can additionally be used to deal with more extensive issues. Shipping is completely free, and attached images and other files can also be sent.

Here you can see how many e-mails are currently being sent per day and are expected to be sent in the next few years:

 

How email works

In order for an e-mail to get from the sender to the recipient successfully, certain requirements must be met. Every day e-mail traffic on the Internet is regulated by certain protocols. These e-mail protocols specifically stipulate how every computer must handle electronic messages.
 

 

SMTP, POP3 and IMAP

One of the most important protocols is the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which regulates sending and forwarding to the target server. Version 3 of the Post Office Protocol (POP3) defines the fetching of the sent e-mail from the provider’s server. However, the e-mails are only temporarily stored on the provider’s server; the final storage then takes place on the user’s computer. Furthermore, the Internet Message Access Protocol (short: IMAP) describes a different procedure for collecting e-mails. The sent e-mails remain permanently on the provider’s server. This way, access is much easier, even from multiple computers.
 

However, early email protocols rarely addressed the important issue of security. In the past few years, however, spam and phishing emails have become a serious problem. There are more and more hackers who want to quickly earn a lot of money from illegal activities.
 

The security of emails

The number of email accounts that are hacked each year continues to grow. Criminal attacks by hackers, the use of Trojans, and phishing emails lead to unlawful access to accounts and stolen data.

Since the identity of the owner can be assumed on the web with the help of a hacked e-mail account, the resulting damage can be considerable. In the commercial sector, hostile attacks can even be extremely damaging to business. Therefore, security is a major challenge when sending emails to ward off unauthorized attacks. This includes holistic security software and turning on the firewall. In this context, operating systems and protection programs must be updated regularly in order to always be up to date.
 

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