On 20/10/05, Jim Cheetham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Carl Cerecke wrote: > > On my home server, run an IMAP proxy which accepts secure IMAP > > connections, and forwards them on to the insecure IMAP at the ISP. > > That doesn't seem to add much security ... your user/pass would still go > to the ISP in plaintext.
Yes. But it would go to my ISP in plain text from my home server which is connected (via ADSL) to my ISP. At least it's within my ISP (and Telecom too, I suppose), rather than the broader internet. > You would be protecting your access to your home server, but you really > should just be ssh/ssl tunnelling, or even running OpenVPN, in order to > protect that traffic. Well. I don't have a whole lot of control over the remote machine. And it is Windows, which I know diddly-squat about. > If your ISP were not the final destination for your email, things would > be better. Can you divert/forward your ISP mail to a better provider? > I'm not sure if gmail offers ssl download, but I think fastmail.fm does ... Hmm. Interesting. Another option is to ask my ISP politely to enable secure IMAP. They never even offered secure webmail until I pointed out that, on their website they said that one of the "key features" of their service is security and privacy (http://www.maxnet.co.nz/content/2/11/0.htm), and not having any way at all to access mail securely is most definitely not either. They were very responsive (once I got past the front-line helpdesk dude who said "yeah, but it doesn't say we'll provide secure webmail") and got it setup in short order. See! Asking politely, and firmly, with good reasons, does sometimes work! > Or you could try running your home server as an MTA, but I generally > don't recommend something so critical to be run by people who aren't > already good at running mail servers ... (yes, a little chicken-and-egg) I thought of this, but decided against it for the exact same reason. Cheers, Carl.
