CryptoMail Newsletter

CryptoMail.org publishes the CryptoMail News-letter to provide information about secure web based email communication.

Being A Good CryptoMail.org User

CryptoMail.org is a not-for-profit organization that operates with your support and cooperation.  Being a good user in the CryptoMail Service means maintaining good habits when using your Email account, so that you can help us lower our maintenance costs, which in turn, ultimately leads to better services for you and other users.

• Keep Your Account Personal.  You should never share your account with anyone.  Your passphase should be confidential.
• Having A Good Passphase.  Your passphase should not be easily guessed by anyone, avoiding using family names, birth dates, telephone numbers and commonly know phases.
• Secure Your Passphase.  You should change your passphase on a regular basis.  You should not write down your passphase, especially around your computer.
• Check Your Back.  When you login to your account, you should look around your surrounding to see if any strangers trying to snap your passphase.
• Always Log-off.  You should always remember to log-off your Email session and close your web browser, when you have finished your Email activities.
• Monitor Your Account.  You should regularly login your account to check for any irregular activities.
• Never Send Junk Mail.  Junk mails waste our resources to transport and store in our system, and they provide no benefit for people to communicate privately.
• Report Any Abuse.  If you suspect anyone having tried to misuse your account, you should notify us and describe the problem to us immediately at abuse@cryptomail.org.

1,000+ CryptoMail Service Users

More than 1,000 people have tried or have been using the CryptoMail Service since our official online date, October 1st, 2000.  The number has far surpassed our expectations.

CryptoMail.org is very lucky to have Stan Osborne (stan@cryptomail.org) as our system administrator.  Stan maintains our infrastructure to support more than 1,000 users.

Problems With File Attachments

In the past few months, you might not have been able to have any file attachments to load from, or to save to your computer when you tried to click on the "Add Attachment" icon in the "Attachment Window" or the "Save Attachment" icon in the "View Attachment Windows".  (See CryptoMail User Manual 4.1 and 4.3 for usage details).

The file attachment problem was found when users had installed the Sun Microsystems Java Plug-in that normally used by Netscape 6, Mozilla and other web browsers. The problem usually does not occur in the Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Netscape Navigator 4.x with their own Java Plug-in.

Incorrect signing of the CryptoMail Client’s Java applet was the cause that prevented the client to access your local computer’s file system, so the attachments could not be loaded nor saved from any Email messages.  The problem was fixed, and now, you can continually enjoy using our CryptoMail Service with the Email attachment feature and the Sun Microsystems Java Plug-in together.

If you are a developer or a system administrator and have the same problem, you might need to use the Sun’s JAR Signing and Verification Tool (jarsigner) to sign the Java Applet.

Users Q&A

Q: Can I use CryptoMail.org’s free CryptoMail Service with "Popup Blocking" enabled in my web browser?

A: Yes, you can use our CryptoMail Service with "Popup Blocking" features enabled in your web browsers found in Mozilla 1.x and Netscape 7.x.  Because the CryptoMail Service will never create a pop-up window without your permission, other Internet security software’s "Popup Blocking" should also allow you to access the service.