I have been using that myself with the flashgot firefox extension.

Can someone talk me through SMTP? My understanding of the protocol was that the email did not have to travel directly from sending server to destination server. However, reading I am doing right now seems to contradict that.

In that case, the security vulnerabilities of an exposed message lie just in the two servers, right? And there's no provision for a secure connection between the two within the protocol?

I think there's the possibility of authentication between the servers--I had to do that for my school's smtp server. And that can use SSL. But that's the only security I know for it.

Can someone talk me through SMTP?

Yes, I can.

My understanding of the protocol was that the email did not have to travel directly from sending server to destination server. However, reading I am doing right now seems to contradict that.

Most email messages will go through many SMTP servers to reach their destination. The Received: headers of any email message will show all the hops it takes.

The description you're reading is probably an idealized, Platonic concept of how email is supposed to work. The real world is never that simple.

In that case, the security vulnerabilities of an exposed message lie just in the two servers, right? And there's no provision for a secure connection between the two within the protocol?

There is absolutely, positively no guarantee of security in SMTP. Email messages can be easily intercepted, looked at, and even modified on the way to their destination.

The only practical way to get secure email is to encrypt the message from the client, using PGP or S/MIME, before it is sent.

[x-post edit] The SSL/Authentication thing that SA is talking about is used to authenticate a user to an SMTP server when a message is initially submitted. It is seldom used in the intermediate hops between SMTP servers

The description you're reading is probably an idealized, Platonic concept of how email is supposed to work.

Now I'm wondering what OS the Platonic ideal email server runs on. And how well do email servers work in caves, with all the dampness....

Now I'm wondering what OS the Platonic ideal email server runs on.

Multics.

And how well do email servers work in caves, with all the dampness....

The thing is, SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. And it really is simple. Yet the things people do to fuck it up and make it much more complicated than it needs to be, oy...

Thank you, Scola. I checked a few email headers, and they all looked point to point, and I doubted myself.

Now I am secure.

Sysadmins reading the bosses mail?

Sysadmins reading the bosses mail?

Did anyone ever believe they weren't?

Windows 3.1 hotdog scheme: [link]

Warning - may hurt your eyes.