About Apscitu Mail

Email is the best form of communication — you can inexpensively and instantly send large amounts of text, documents, photos, audio, and video at any time and it can all be sent securely. And VIPs need to have the best email service, Apscitu Mail.

Apscitu Mail is Apscitu Inc.'s new revolutionary ultra-secure custom email for VIPs.

Apscitu Mail is unlike anything offered by other email service providers, like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc., all of which I have (painful) experience with.

If you are going to use email at all, but particularly if you want to use it securely, you need to understand how it works. What follows is the best explanation of that. Along the way you'll come to understand why Apscitu Mail is the best for you.

Email Route

The figure shows the route an email follows after being sent from the computer of one VIP (you, a politician, official, executive, lawyer, doctor, etc.) to being received on the computer of another VIP.

The Internet "cloud" consists of numerous routers and the route through the cloud can change with time. That is, the route at one time can be different from that at another time, depending on factors like traffic and routers being down. That's how routers route.

Emails are broken up into packets of data and in the cloud even individual packets can take different routes; but probably not since emails usually don't take long to send.

Routers are just computers, they see all the data in the email packets as it goes through them, and they could reassemble these packets and save a copy of the original email for reading by whoever administrates the router (your unscrupulous office IT guy, your unscrupulous Internet Service Provider (ISP), etc.), whoever built a backdoor into the router (e.g. China/Huawei or the NSA), and/or other hackers.

More importantly and worse though, are the email service provider email servers, the sender's and the recipient's. These email servers are also just computers and are where the email packets are definitely reassembled into the original email; for sending to the recipient email server in the case of the sender email server and awaiting downloading by the receiving computer in the case of the recipient email server.

As long as emails are on one of these server computers they are available for reading, for whatever nefarious reason, by unscrupulous email server administrators (employees of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.), by hackers due to IT incompetent email server administration (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.), by the NSA (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc. permit this), or for copying (e.g., backing up) for future such use. Many email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) practically force you to leave emails, both sent and received, on their servers permanently, for exactly these reasons.

Email service provider email servers are the single most insecure part of the entire email route.

Your Own Individual Email Server Computer

What you as a VIP really need is your own individual email server computer, for sending and receiving, administered by an expert for your benefit, particularly security.

The heart of Apscitu Mail, and what most makes it revolutionary, is individual email server computers, which include the hardware, operating system, and email server software (sending and receiving). You have the use of your own individual email server computer, instead of sharing one with thousands of other users, as is the case with all other email service providers.

Also unlike all other email service providers, Apscitu Inc. expertly sets up and maintains your individual email server computer. By "expertly", I mean me, Duane Thresher, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., CEO (see Credentials), who does all the technical work. You will never know who specifically, and their qualifications, does the technical work at any other email service provider (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.).

The most important advantage of having your own individual email server computer is ultra-security. Instead of setting up the email server computer for the benefit (reading your emails, cheap IT incompetent hacking-prone administration) of the email service provider (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.) or for the convenience of thousands of users, most with bad security habits that put everyone else at risk too, an Apscitu Mail individual email server computer is set up and maintained with your individual security being of utmost importance.

I set up your individual email server computer so there is really nothing for hackers, the NSA (and so the FBI, CIA, etc.), or the courts to get, even if they could get into your email server computer. Unlike most email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.), Apscitu Mail doesn't keep your email on your server permanently, just long enough for you to upload it from (send) or download it to (receive) your personal computer, which you have physical possession of so control its security.

And Apscitu Mail doesn't keep logs of your sent and received emails — which the NSA is particularly fond of — on your individual email server computer, unlike most email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.). To be certain there is nothing, Apscitu Mail also offers the option of deleting your entire individual email server computer on short notice.

Even more secure than your own Apscitu Mail individual email server computer is having both sender and recipient email servers be Apscitu Mail individual email server computers. This should be the case when both sender and recipient are VIPs.

However, Apscitu Mail can arrange for one-server "hotline" situations. For example:

1. You are a lawyer with VIP clients (politicians, corporate execs, etc.) who do not yet have their own Apscitu Mail individual email server computer. You need to show your VIP clients that you are serious about security (confidentiality), so you have your own Apscitu Mail individual email server computer, and I add accounts on it for your VIP clients.

2. You are a news reporter with confidential sources (whistleblowers, etc.) who want to email information to you, but only if it can be done securely. Instead of pretending you have secure email when you don't really (e.g. ProtonMail) or trying to use secure email systems that aren't secure if you don't know what you are doing (e.g. PGP; see ahead), both of which put your confidential sources at risk, unbeknownst to them, you have your own Apscitu Mail individual email server computer, and I add accounts on it for your confidential sources.

Another important advantage of having your own Apscitu Mail individual email server computer is speed. Since you don't share it with thousands of other users, many sending/receiving huge attachments (cat videos, etc.), email approaches its ideal of being instantaneous. If your recipient or sender also has Apscitu Mail then email truly becomes instantaneous. In any case, the dramatic speed difference from your old email service provider will be obvious to you.

Still another important advantage of having your own Apscitu Mail individual email server computer is your sender reputation, which is determined by the reputation of the IP (Internet Protocol) address of your email server computer. An email server computer that sends spam, no matter which of the users sends it, hurts the reputation of the server IP address — numerous IT incompetent companies tabulate this — which in turn hurts the reputation of all senders from the email server computer.

Senders are then blacklisted, such that their sent emails when received are automatically put in never-read spam folders or even rejected outright. See Whitelists, Blacklists, and the Great Spam Filter Scam.

Other email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.) allow spammers, one way or another, so their thousands of other legitimate senders are tarred with the same brush and blacklisted. Spammers can't afford Apscitu Mail, unlike free email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.), who make money by advertising at you, often by reading your emails to target the ads at you.

There are no more new IP (v4) addresses, just recycled ones, often used up (reputation sullied to the point of being useless) and discarded by spammers. When Apscitu Mail gets an IP address for an individual email server computer, it first has to scrub it, which requires time and money. See Coronavirus and Spam: The Fear Is Worse Than The Disease.

Encryption of Your Email

Security is about layers. No single layer of security is completely secure but the whole system becomes more secure as layers are added. The next (optional) layer of security beyond your own individual email server computer is encryption.

You've probably heard of email encryption but have no idea how it works or even that there are different types.

These days most email service providers, including Apscitu Mail, use link encryption between your personal computer (the mail program on it, called the email client) and their email server computer, as well as between email server computers. This encryption uses an SSL certificate, like that used between your personal computer (the web browser on it) and a web server computer, like Apscitu's web server computer (Apscitu has its own individual one) you are using right now. The SSL certificate contains encryption keys so sent data can be encrypted, and results in the lock in the browser address bar indicating a secure website (https not http), like you see right now.

This link encryption is why it is even less likely emails can be read on routers.

Link encryption is easy for you to use — you probably don't even know you are using it (it was included in your email client setup). Some email service providers will misleadingly advertise using encryption based on this. But this is not the more important, more well-known email encryption, end-to-end email encryption.

Link encryption still leaves emails unencrypted on the email server computers, where they are most vulnerable, as discussed. Unlike Apscitu Mail, other email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.), and the NSA and other hackers, don't want emails encrypted on "their" email server computers because they want to be able to read them.

Better is end-to-end email encryption, where the email is encoded on the sending computer and stays encrypted until it is decoded on the receiving computer. End-to-end email encryption makes link encryption unnecessary.

End-to-end email encryption is the encryption you've probably heard of — perhaps as PGP — but have no idea how it works and don't use it. That you don't currently use it is probably a good thing. Studies show that even the most user-friendly email encryption system is too difficult for even above-average users to use competently. And incompetent encryption is worse than no encryption because you are lulled into a false sense of security and insecurely send more, and more sensitive, data than you would otherwise. You should let an expert like myself set up and train you to use end-to-end email encryption. Apscitu Mail offers end-to-end email encryption as an option, although with your own Apscitu Mail individual email server it's not so important.

For more on end-to-end email encryption read my Incompetent Encryption Is Worse Than No Encryption.

Your Own Email Address (Domain Name and Username)

Your email address says a lot about you and it's often the first impression you make. Would you trust a lawyer whose email address was johnsmith9786@yahoo.com? (Particularly if you knew that "yahoo" means a stupid person? Not to mention the multiple massive data breaches email service provider Yahoo has had.) I have actually seen lawyers advertising with such email addresses.

An email address, like duane@duanethresher.net, consists of a username, duane, and a domain name, duanethresher.net. With other email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) you are forced to use their domain name (gmail.com, outlook.com/hotmail.com, yahoo.com, etc.). Then your choice of username is limited since there are so many other users on the domain with the same name. You usually have to add an ugly large number to your username.

Apscitu Mail allows you to choose your own email address, starting with helping you pick and get your own domain name, which can be difficult and somewhat costly. Then because you have your own individual email server computer that Apscitu sets up, you can pick any username you want to go with this domain name, even just "john" (which will surprise and impress users of other email service providers).

Besides looking more professional, an Apscitu Mail email address provides a sort of authentication. Authentication is usually lumped in with encryption and so is less well-known and understood. See Apscitu's Secure Contact page.

With other email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.), I know from experience that anyone can quickly, easily, and for free create a fake email account using a name other than their own for the username, i.e. without verification. They can quickly and easily delete it too. It's the very definition of fly-by-night. It's what spammers and hackers who use phishing emails do.

As indicated, getting your own domain name is not so quick and easy, costs money, and can more easily be verified. All this provides a sort of authentication, at least that you aren't fly-by-night. (Getting a domain name that is someone else's name can result in serious legal problems so fly-by-nighters generally avoid doing this.)

Your Own Whitelist

All the major email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.), which provide email service for many individuals and many major business and government organizations, use spam filters, which are a communications disaster. Would you use the phone system if many calls, to or from you, never connected at all? Spam filters guarantee that you will miss important emails and not even know it.

As a VIP you probably already avoid making your organizational email address public to prevent being overwhelmed by spam that makes it through the spam filters and other unwanted email. Having your own email address, as described, would make this easier, but with Apscitu Mail not publishing your email address and spam filters are both unnecessary.

With Apscitu Mail you have your own whitelist, which is a list of people — their email addresses — who are allowed to send you email. All other senders are blocked. That simple. See Whitelists, Blacklists, and the Great Spam Filter Scam.

Your whitelist will include all of your sensitive information contacts, like financial institutions, government, clients, lawyers, patients, doctors, relatives, utilities, Amazon, etc., and I help you create it and keep it up to date.

Related to this, I help you create and keep up to date a list of senders who should be automatically sent emails confirming the receipt of their emails at your Apscitu Mail individual email server computer, which is very reassuring to email senders.

Your Own Separate Email Client

As mentioned, an email client is the mail program on your personal computer that downloads (receives) and uploads (sends) email from and to your email server. For security, Apscitu Mail uses a separate email client from the one you normally use (like for your "beater" email account; see below). The Apscitu Mail email client is a popular tried-and-true email client, just separate from your normal one, and I set it up on your personal computer.

If you opt for end-to-end email encryption, as discussed, I set this up along with your Apscitu Mail email client. This expert setup is critical because, for example, a misconfigured email client is how the NSA and hackers get around encryption, which they can't break (see No, The NSA Does Not Have Encryption-Breaking Quantum Computers).

Unlike most email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.), Apscitu Mail does not use webmail, which is using a web browser as your email client. Webmail has 3 serious security problems, which make it unacceptable for use:

1. Webmail leaves your email on your email service provider's server permanently (i.e., it downloads using IMAP instead of POP, which is what Apscitu Mail uses), which as discussed vastly increases the chances it will be read by someone who shouldn't be reading it (i.e., the NSA, hackers, unscrupulous email service provider employees). Most email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) brag about how much storage space you can have for your email because they want you to leave all of your email on their servers permanently so they can read it. Apscitu Mail doesn't keep your email permanently, even on your own individual email server. Apscitu Mail keeps your email on your own individual email server just long enough for you to download it to (receive) or upload it from (send) your personal computer, which you have physical possession of so control its security.

2. Webmail adds the security vulnerabilities of web applications, which are far worse than regular programs like email clients. In fact, web apps are one of the leading hacking "vectors" used today.

3. Webmail can't do end-to-end email encryption due to the key having to be kept on your personal computer only. Other email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) not only can't do end-to-end email encryption, they don't want to do it since they want to read your email and they can't break encryption (see No, The NSA Does Not Have Encryption-Breaking Quantum Computers).

For the ultimate security I can provide you with a lightweight laptop or small desktop computer dedicated to email (with an email client and end-to-end encryption already set up on it). If you have your own individual email server computer, why shouldn't you have your own personal computer dedicated to email?

Cost

Unlike other email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, GoDaddy, etc.), with whom you will never have contact with a human, even an IT incompetent one, Apscitu Mail involves custom work by an IT expert, me. Like any service, custom work costs more. But you get what you pay for and most major email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) are free, i.e. they aren't worth paying for.

After setup, Apscitu Mail service is by monthly subscription, with no long-term contract. Custom work and a monthly subscription means you always have the best level of support, unlike most other IT services, where you have to pay extra for support beyond a certain time or level.

Much of this custom work can be done over the phone, but I will come to your office or home if necessary (see Coronavirus and Spam: The Fear Is Worse Than The Disease); for example, to set up an email client on your personal computer as discussed.

The cost of Apscitu Mail will depend on the details of your setup and the options you need. Securely contact Apscitu Inc. as described in Secure Contact to discuss what you need and get a quote.

Legal

As discussed, Apscitu Mail is designed so there is really nothing (e.g., email, logs) for hackers, the NSA (and so the FBI, CIA, etc.), or the courts to get, even if they could get into your Apscitu Mail individual email server computer. Further, unlike the major email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.), Apscitu Mail does not and will not allow built-in easy access by the NSA to Apscitu Mail email server computers. All demands for access to your email will be fought in court. A precedent case for this is long overdue and I am willing to do this. Such a case is strengthened because Apscitu Inc. only accepts non-criminal — based on our judgment — U.S. clients. See Apscitu Mail and "Select clients" notes in Legal Notes section of the About Apscitu Law page on the Apscitu Law website.

Contrary to popular belief, use of private email accounts by government officials is not illegal. All an official has to do is make sure that all government-related emails are made available to the government; for example, by simply forwarding them to the official's government email account, which ironically nowadays may be a Google or Microsoft email account. Using Apscitu Mail, particularly with end-to-end encryption, would remove any question of risk to sensitive information. Not doing any of this is what got Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in trouble and cost her the presidential election; see Bryan Pagliano in the Government IT Incompetents Hall Of Shame (ITIHOS) on the Stop IT Incompetence website. Some organizations, like companies, have a similar policy to government's and can be similarly satisfied.

That you even have Apscitu Mail is strictly confidential, including from the IT department of your organization; see IT Hiring: IT Incompetence Breeds Disloyalty and Corruption in Principles of IT Incompetence on the Stop IT Incompetence website.

Beater Email Account

If you also want to have a "beater" email account from another email service provider — one to abuse, like having an old and a new bike — that's fine. Use it for people you don't trust so don't put on your Apscitu Mail whitelist. Remember though, again, it has been proven that all the major email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) collude with the NSA and have unscrupulous IT incompetent employees, so don't assume any privacy with these accounts. If you send email via your beater account, particularly if you are a VIP, it will be read by someone who shouldn't be reading it. But that's OK for the latest cat videos, etc.