Encrypted connections
In what become known as the Crypto Wars, “...for several decades, individuals and organizations concerned with protecting their personal privacy and corporate secrets have been engaged in a heated battle with government officials to gain the right to freely employ encryption techniques and technologies to safeguard their information.” Eventually a layer of encryption was built into the Internet's infrastructure to allow for secure connections between two computers. It is called the Secure Sockets Layer and is often abbreviated to SSL. The advantage of using SSL in webmail services is that the technology is already built into the framework of the Internet and does not require any additional tools or action from the user. Companies and non-profit organisations can (and often do) offer webmail services protected by SSL connections. It is the minimum requirement today for a degree of privacy in email and Internet communication.
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The existence and properties of an SSL connection to a particular website can be identified by two distinguishing features:
The address for the website will begin with https:// (the 's' standing for secure!) A little padlock will appear in the address bar or on bottom toolbar, depending on your Internet browser
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This means that the website you are visiting and your Internet browser have agreed upon an encrypted communications channel. You can click on the padlock to view the details of this secure connection.
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