nanog mailing list archives

Re: Suggestions for a more privacy conscious email provider


From: Andy Brezinsky <andy () mbrez com>
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2017 16:42:04 -0600

On 12/04/2017 04:06 PM, Grant Taylor via NANOG wrote:
In my naive opinion, there are some subtle differences with where "the linux box you can ssh into" resides.

Namely, when I ran my server at home, it took a search warrant to legally enter my house to access the server, which I would be immediately made aware of. I can't say the same with the same degree of certainty for a server located in a co-location facility.

I'm obviously ignoring someone compromising the system across the network. Though even then, I can disconnect the server from the outside world and still access it from my home.
If you're really worried about this, separate your mail storage from the mail transport. Run an inbound and outbound smarthost on your $5 VPS to queue up mail and deliver it back to your house where your long term mail is stored. This gives you the benefit of the static IP at the VPS along with the security and cheap storage of having the mail storage in house.

If you're worried about the short amount of time that messages are queued up on your VPS before making it to your house then you really shouldn't be communicating over email.


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