When email arrived to the mainstream 25 years ago, it was a revelation. Today, it鈥檚 become so second nature that it鈥檚 surprising how often it can still be challenging.
That鈥檚 not to say that you鈥檙e going to fall for that 鈥淎frican prince鈥� seeking your bank account information. And hopefully you aren鈥檛 clicking that link from 鈥淎V俱乐部 email administrator鈥� asking for your NetID and password. But overall?
鈥淓mail is a mess,鈥� says John Bullock, information security manager with Information Technology Services (ITS) at AV俱乐部 and organizer of this week's annual Data Privacy Day event.
He means 鈥渕ess鈥� in two ways. One is that there鈥檚 simply so much of it: at AV俱乐部 alone, more than 135,000 emails are delivered each day, and many employees spend as much time managing emails鈥攐ften running up against their 500 MB capacity鈥攁s they do actually writing them.
Is email ever truly secure?
But Mr. Bullock is also referring to the fact that while email is easy to use and convenient, it often gives a false sense of security.
鈥淭here is no network border anymore. You can never truly know where your mail is going because the recipient may pick up what you send on many different devices and at many different locations.鈥�
With the university investigating third-party solutions for providing and hosting communication and collaboration services, there has been plenty of discussion on campus about the security and privacy of email. Presently, AV俱乐部 is in negotiations with Microsoft to adopt its Office 365 services to for students and employees鈥攖hough no agreement has been signed yet鈥攁nd a thorough privacy risk and impact assessment is underway with the university鈥檚 legal team.
John Robertson, director of academic computing services, hopes that the discussion gets the AV俱乐部 community to think critically about what it sends by email.
鈥淓mail is a powerful and convenient tool, but it's not infalliable," he says. "Senders have no control over the networks the message will transit, the servers it may end up on, or the devices the recipient will use. And these issues apply to any email system, whether it's hosted locally or by a third party.
鈥淔or the vast majority of correspondence, email is terrific. However if it鈥檚 mission critical that information remain private鈥攊f it鈥檚 research data or personally identifiable or sensitive information鈥攊t should not be sent as an email attachment. Not now, not ever.鈥�
Lost in translation
Even if you鈥檙e being safe and responsible in what you send by email, it鈥檚 still all too easy to mess up what you鈥檙e trying to say.
Binod Sundararajan, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Management who teaches business communications, says there are many things to keep in mind when it comes to email etiquette.*
鈥淭here are several ways an email can be misinterpreted by the receiver,鈥� says Dr. Sundararajan. 鈥淭he best way to fix it is to pick up the phone. If left unattended, it will get worse.鈥�
Given the mass amount of emails a person can receive in a day, Dr. Sundararajan says a clear subject line can help cut through the clutter.
鈥淎s a professor of about 200 students in just one class, a subject line that reads 鈥榟elp,鈥� as an example, doesn鈥檛 give me the information I need. AV俱乐部 seven to eight words in the subject line outlining your ask will get you your answer sooner.鈥�
Students often feel the same way.
鈥淕etting five emails in a row about stuff that doesn鈥檛 really apply to me can be annoying,鈥� says Morgan Lowther, a second-year history student. 鈥淚f they had better subject lines that clearly laid out the purpose of the email, I鈥檇 be able to go ahead and delete the ones that didn鈥檛 interest me and read the ones that did.鈥�
Dr. Sundararajan also stresses caution when using the various functions of your email.
鈥淔orwards, reply-alls, and blind carbon copying are all things to handle with care. Just because you BCC someone on an email doesn鈥檛 mean the other users won鈥檛 find out. And don鈥檛 be the boy who cries wolf 鈥� if it鈥檚 truly 鈥榰rgent鈥� then mark it urgent. Otherwise you鈥檒l quickly become an un-trusted user.鈥�
Lastly, he echoes the advice that email users should beware when sending sensitive information over the web.
Using email wisely
Michael Bennett, manager of systems development with ITS, explains that there are options available on campus to transmit information more securely than email.
There鈥檚 the , for one, which allows employees and students to send large files and requires the other party to authenticate. Many employees have access to Novell NetStorage as well, and the university provides various databases and servers for particular projects or operational needs. AV俱乐部 is also working on developing a locally-hosted version of Microsoft鈥檚 SharePoint software for data storage and collaboration.
When it comes to mobile email, Mr. Bennett points to the university鈥檚 . He says that there are several best-practices to be found there, even for personal devices, and stresses that it鈥檚 particularly important to password protect devices in case of loss or theft.
Above all else, it may be the proliferation of mobile devices鈥攏ot just phones, but now iPads and tablets鈥攖hat鈥檚 changing the way we understand email. Many personal conversations now skip email entirely 鈥斅爐hey go straight to instant and text messaging, or messaging services of social media websites such as Facebook.
For John Bullock, that poses some interesting questions about the future of information.
鈥淭hink about how much of what we know of our ancestors is defined by their writing,鈥� he says. 鈥淓mail keeps some form of record, but鈥攕peaking of personal communications in particular鈥攖hat record can be lost when someone passes away and hasn鈥檛 shared their information with anyone. And the proliferation of quicker, more instantaneous communications complicates this further.鈥�
That heightened permanency, in part, is why so much of AV俱乐部 communications still take place via email, particularly between the university and its students. But that doesn鈥檛 mean that email is perfect, or that it鈥檚 a catch-all tool for university business.
鈥淓mail os simply not a secure way to share or store sensitive or personally-identifiable information,鈥� says Mr. Bennett. 鈥淲e have to think of email, first and foremost, as a communications platform. And use it wisely.鈥�