Guide to create your own private email?

I was tempted to host my own email service at home off of a home server that i could control and have it be heavily encrypted. I know the out going emails won't be encrypted but as least the data stored on the server could be controlled and ideal anyone that had an account on it could send secure emails between each other. That would be nice for myself and my family to have a secure email service between each other.

So is there a program or guide on how to do that?

Hell if i can do it i'll give anyone here an account if they want it. I just would like to be able to control some of my data when it comes to email and be able to talk to family members via email safely.


Don't judge....it seems like the only decent email option for the time being.

 

Don't be surprised if NSA knocks on your door and asks you for the hard drive. They will have a $5 wrench too, they are standard issued these day...
Anyways back on topic.. I would be interested in an easy guide too. Im planning to host my own email in the next two years. I might do so out of Europe too.

 

if i can do it and create a stock set up that i can create an image of. I'll host the image to save people time as long as it doesn't affect my own security...not sure if thats possible but if so I'll do it.

Also one where i have zero access to email logs would be preferred but i'll take what i can get. If i dont have access than that means they can't get access either ^^

If lavabit was smart they should have just posted their program on the internet so everyone could download it and start their own. They could have done this in a big fine!!!...we can't run it! **** you! General public here is a guide and the software! you can't stop us!

I would gladly run one for everyone from my house and burry it in a cement box lol.

 

Like these?:
http://lifehacker.com/how-to-encrypt-your-email-and-keep-your-conversations-p-1133495744
https://grepular.com/Automatically_Encrypting_all_Incoming_Email

 

is that all i need? I appears to have a lot of info to pull it off.

Is there anything else i should know? I love advice! BTW i have only used windows so if i need to make this on linux any advice on where to start with that?

This is literally a fiend(i normally dont use that word...this is what i get for typing while watching hulu -_-) i have never touched. I am more of a gamer/hardware person so...yea enough said.

(matt if you want to do this together and both build our systems together i am totally down) or share.

Also J L....can this be made so no one can access each persons account so even if anyone asked we couldn't give it?

 

Sorry, I've never done anything like this myself, so no help there. As for plausible deniability (like TrueCrypt Hidden Volumes), that will probably require extra setup if even possible.

 

Dude, that is exactly what Ladar Levison from Lavabit is doing. They just raised $212,513 to convert their code into freely available source code. They have formed the Dark Mail Alliance in conjunction with Silent Circle. In a few months the Lavabit code will be available for all.

See:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ladar/lavabits-dark-mail-initiative
and,
http://darkmail.info/

 

nice so how complicated will that be? Worse than this or easier? I assume you dont know so that was more so a rhetorical question :/ I also wonder what type of encryptions it will use...i hope good enough to last for a few decades :/

 

I cannot due it justice. This is a project that could in theory be the first upgrade to the smtp and pop3 protocols the internet has seen. Go to this site and read. It is complicated.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_t...nt_circle_team_up_to_create_surveillance.html

 

BTW isn't PGP broken already by the government? I heard the standard was already out dated? Also i wonder how long it'll last because i know SSL or whatever is a joke and means nothing since some companies have made a box that can trick the user :/

 

Running your own email server isn't that hard. Maybe a day of research is all it takes. Computer, email software, port forwards in the router, a dynamic dns provider that has MX records (No-Ip.com has these) and a mail reflector if your port 25 is blocked by ISP (probable), and a smart host to send from (you can use any email provider, but a privacy focused one is best). Look at:

Software:

hMailServer
Axigen
Ability

DNS/Mail Forwarder:
No-IP.com

Privacy Providers for Smart Host:

RiseUp
Countermail
Austici

Cost can be from free, to about $90 a year. You control the box, so you'll know if someone wants to troll through it. As far as interception off the wire, same pitfalls and solutions as regular email.

Most home users just want easy, which is the above...but you can go the domain registration route too.

Local security is up to you: encryption, cameras, dead man switches ...

 

There has never been a single instance that it was shown that the government compromised the encryption of PGP. In every single case the government has managed to decrypt it was due to user error. PGP stands as exceptionally valid encryption software. Now, with the current state of the NSA it is recommended that people stay away from 1024 bit. If you are going to use it go to the top of the standard which I believe is 4096. I am a user of PGP. When it comes to the politics and the use of PGP I can tell you it hasn't been broken. I can tell you how to safely and adequately use PGP. What I can't do is go into detail about the encryption strength and security of the protocol. Maybe someone else can go into some of the math. Maybe someone