What is TLS/SSL for email?
What is TLS for email?
TLS stands for Transport Layer Security; SSL is its predecessor and the terms are still often used interchangeably. For email, TLS ensures that traffic between your device and the server, and between servers themselves, is encrypted.
Explanation
Without encryption, your email travels across the internet as readable text. With TLS that traffic is shielded, which matters especially for sensitive or business information. Note: TLS secures the connection, not the message itself once it has been delivered. At Mailflux the connection with the webmail and your mail program is encrypted. Read more in forced TLS and encrypted connections.
Example
You log in to the mailbox of you@yourbusiness.be from a public Wi-Fi network. Thanks to TLS the connection is encrypted, so someone on that same network can't intercept your password or messages.
Why TLS matters
If you send sensitive information, such as customer data or invoices, you don't want it to be readable by others in transit. TLS takes care of that at the connection level. Good to remember: TLS protects the transport, not the content after it has been stored at the recipient's end. For truly confidential documents, additional protection may be needed. For everyday business email, an encrypted connection is a sensible baseline that you really want to have on at all times.
Related concepts
- Forced TLS and encrypted connections
- Back to the glossary
Want to read on about encrypted mailing? Forced TLS and encrypted connections explains it calmly.