How To Send Confidential Emails In Your Gmail

How To Send Confidential Emails in Your Gmail

Are you looking for a better secure way of sending emails within Gmail? Google’s “Confidential mode” is available now, designed to ensure that only the intended recipient can view your message.

 

What Is Gmail’s Confidential Mode?

When you use the Confidential mode while sending a message in the Gmail, the intended recipient will have to enter a code before could read your email.

After you have sent your message, the recipient will receive an email telling them that a confidential message is awaiting them. To read it, they’ll have to verify their identity using a code sent to them either via email (to the same account) or via SMS (to a number of your choice) before they can read it.

 

New Confidential Email Notification

None of the message’s contents will be included in the email that is received. Instead, the message only exists on Google’s servers. In addition to the verification process, messages that are sent via Confidential mode also expire. You can choose an expiration date of a week, a month, three months, or even five years.

 

How To Send Confidential Emails in Gmail

1. To use the Confidential mode, sign in to Gmail and click on the Compose button in the top-left corner to begin writing a new email. 

 

2. First, add a recipient, a subject line, and then insert the body of your message, now click on “Confidential mode” at the bottom of the compose window (It looks like a padlock with a clock on it).

 

Enabling Confidential Mode in Gmail

1. In the window that appears, set your expiry period and choose whether or not to require a passcode via SMS.

2. If you choose “No SMS Passcode,” then the code will be delivered to the same email address you’ve put in the “To” field instead.

 

Set Expiry Date For Confidential Mode in Gmail

1. Hit “Save” and check your message before hitting Send.

2. If you’ve opted for SMS passcode verification, you’ll need to enter the recipient’s mobile number before your message is sent. Take care not to enter the wrong number!

3. Specify mobile number for SMS verification

 

Remove Access To A Message You’ve Sent

1. If you like, you can rescind access to a message you’ve already sent. 

2. Once you send an email using Confidential mode, the message will appear in your inbox (You can also find it under Sent.).

3. To “unsend” a Confidential email, first, click on the message, and then click “Remove access.” If the recipient hasn’t yet read the email, then they won’t be able to gain access to it after access has been removed.

 

The Drawbacks to Gmail’s Approach

If you don’t request the SMS passcode verification, your Confidential mode is a lot less secure. For example, if the email address you’re sending your message to has already been compromised—for example, if the owner of the mail has left his email logged in on a public computer then the verification code is virtually useless.

On the other hand, providing a separate mobile number and requiring SMS verification is very similar to how two-factor authentication works. Even if the email address has already been compromised, without access to the mobile number specified by the sender, the message cannot be accessed.

Unfortunately, Gmail’s approach is still far from that of truly secure email providers like the ProtonMail and Tutanota.