E-Mail Interception
EDTECH Editor-Jones
I am seeking information regarding how the FBI and law enforcement agencies
obtain copies of e-email without you knowing. I am attempting to show my
students that e-mail is not that secure as they think it is.
Scott J. Neuner
Educator of Business and Educational Technology Education
Charles County Public Schools
La Plata High School
La Plata, Maryland
301-934-1100
301-934-7200 ext 2462
SNe...@ccboe.com
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SIGNOFF EDTECH
EDTECH Editor-Jones
Look at Technology
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/Home_TECHNOLOGY.html>
Look at Securit
find info on e-email privacy
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/SECURITY.html>
best,
Karen Ellis
EDTECH Editor-Jones
Hey Scott,
I don't know how technical of an answer your looking for... But I can
describe basically how e-mail works and show you how anybody can intercept
e-mail, not just the FBI. I'll also tell you how you can keep your privacy
and even prevent the FBI from reading your e-mail. If you don't want to
read my explaination, check out this site:
http://www.wildid.com/email_interception.asp it has some nice graphic
illustrations you can show your students.
When you send any data over the Internet it passes through several
locations before it even gets to its final destination. Since your not
connected directly to whoever your sending e-mail to it must first go
through a network of computers. First it goes through your ISP, then to
several other computers via the shortest route until it gets to the
destination.
At any point where data passes (whether your ISP, the place where all the
other ISP's are connected, or the big backbones) hackers, fbi, and
technicians can view the data that passes through. Usually these places
have enormous amounts of data going through which makes it "impossible" for
most regular people to sort through and single out a certain person... But
all you need is another computer connected to the same network in order to
record the data going by.
In fact, a skilled person could connect a laptop to a certain part of your
school network and watch the data go by for the entire school or certain
rooms depending on how it is connected, and if your using a cable modem any
other subscriber could view your data as well :-)
So how do you protect yourself? There are different encryption software
you can use to send data over the net. One of them specifically made for
e-mail called PGP (pretty good privacy). In order to send encrypted data
to a friend your friend must also have the program and a secret key to read
it. To protect your credit card make sure any site you enter your credit
card information into uses SSL encryption.
I hope this helps.
~Randy
http://www.gradepal.com
GradeBook and Student/Parent Communication
EDTECH Editor-Jones
Scott:
If you were to set up a simple packet sniffer using snoop or NetXRay (I
think MacAfee bought them out now), you can pull up email messages easily.
Also, you could contact your internet provider, and they can throw up a
filter on your router interface and grab the email that way. I think most
providers would be willing to work with you on that, albit given some lead
time.
-Eric
--
Eric Whitehill
Systems Engineer
Onvoy, Inc
ewhit...@onvoy.com
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
Re:
>>How do you protect yourself [against e-mail interception]?
>There are different encryption software
>you can use to send data over the net. One of them specifically made for
>e-mail called PGP (pretty good privacy). In order to send encrypted data
>to a friend your friend must also have the program and a secret key to read
>it.
I have worked with a couple of other folks and developed a tutorial which
explains in layman's terms how to download and use a free copy of the PGP
encryption software. Encryption, by the way, is the process of turning
your data (e-mails, etc.) into incomprehensible gobbledygook. Decryption
works the other way around, restoring your e-mails, etc. to a readable
form. PGP does both jobs--encryption and decryption--which is why the
recipients of your e-mails (friends et al.) would also need to have PGP set
up on their computer.
You can find different versions of the tutorial at
http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/PGPintro.htm Two of the versions are for the
visually impaired. Please let me know if you have any difficulties of any
kind. I'll be happy to help you get up and running.
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is designed to do exactly that--protect your
privacy--and it does so very effectively indeed.
Bernie :)
Bernard John Poole, MSIS
Associate Professor of Education and Instructional Technology
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Johnstown, PA 15904
Phone: (814) 269-2923
E-mail: po...@pitt.edu
Home Page: http://www.pitt.edu/~poole
EdIndex: http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/edmenu.html
EDTECH Editor-Jones
Hello,
Just follow the trail that the message takes to go from sender to
recipient. Once the sender sends the email it travels to their ISP's mail
servers. This is one place a copy is kept. As the email message travels
across the Internet it may or may not stop at other servers along the way.
At each stop a copy is made so the message can be resent if needed. Once it
reaches the destination it sits on the ISP's mail server until the
recipient checks their mail and it is deleted.
Thanks
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Philip Hess - Pittsburgh, PA USA - Computer Teacher
E-mail: pjh_at_zoominternet.net
Phil's Place (my web site) http://phil.mav.net/
PA School District Database: http://phil.mav.net/district.hts
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