Email is an important communications tool that is very commonly used nowadays. It is fast and easy to use. However, there is always a critical argument on how secure Email is. Email travels from sender to recipient across the internet; therefore, anyone (possibly with malcious intent) can intercept it, copy it, edit it or even stop it. Neither sender nor recipient will know the email has been viewed or amended. That is the ugly side of using email. To protect email’s content or privacy, the best way both sender and recipient need to do is to encrypt the message. Nevertheless, email encryption is quite a tedious job. The sender needs to create his own digital ID, in the form of a certificate from a third party. Then he must exchange his ID with all parties to whom he wants to send his protected message. If you intend to look for some security measures to protect email content, to establish confidentially of communication, to guarantee the reliability of the source of information and to guarantee the integrity of the message, perhaps you can look at the following encryption software to help you.

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
PGP is a famous data encrypt/decrypt computer program which provides cryptographic privacy and authentication function. PGP uses public-key cryptography concept to protect the encrypted data or email. The PGP can support e-mail clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Entourage, etc. Besides, this software also protects selected files, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and iChat traffic. The latest version of PGP is PGP Desktop Home 9.6. It costs around $119.

GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG)
If you refuse to pay for PGP, alternatively you can consider GNU Privacy Guard, a free cryptographic software that can perform the data encryption function. GnuPG is an OpenPGP standard compliant system and it is compatible with most of the email client programs. It allows users to encrypt and sign his data and communication. It also features a versatile key management system as well as access modules for all kinds of public key directories. The latest version for GnuPG or GPG is GnuPG 2.0.7 and it can be downloaded via the link here.

Comodo
Comodo is another free secure email solution for personal use. Commercial users need to pay for the service at $19.95. With Comodo’s free secure email certificate, users can encrypt and digitally sign their email and attachment and send them over to their intended recipients. By using these features, users can keep their email confidential and private.You can get your free Secure Email Certificate via the link here.

thawte
Similar to Comodo, thawte also offers personal secure email certificate to personal users to be used indefinitely at no cost. The thawte Personal E-mail certificate can be obtained via a simple registration process.