computer science

Hushmail

Hushmail is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hushmail rather than just read about it. In short: Hushmail is an encrypted proprietary web-based email service offering PGP-encrypted e-mail and vanity domain service. Hushmail uses OpenPGP standards.

Key takeaways

Hushmail belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hushmail to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hushmail from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hushmail is an encrypted proprietary web-based email service offering PGP-encrypted e-mail and vanity domain service. Hushmail uses OpenPGP standards. If public encryption keys are available to both recipient and sender (either both are Hushmail users or have uploaded PGP keys to the Hush keyserver), Hushmail can convey authenticated, encrypted messages in both directions. For recipients for whom no public key is available, Hushmail will allow a message to be encrypted by a password (with a password hint) and stored for pickup by the recipient, or the message can be sent in cleartext. In July 2016, the company launched an iOS app that offers end-to-end encryption and full integration with the webmail settings. The company is located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

History Hushmail was founded by Cliff Baltzley in 1999 after he left Ultimate Privacy.

Accounts

Individuals There is one type of paid account, Hushmail for Personal Use, which provides 10GB of storage, as well as IMAP and POP3 service.

Businesses The standard business account provides the same features as the paid individual account, plus other features like vanity domain, email forwarding, catch-all email, user admin, archive, and Business Associate Agreements for healthcare plans. Features like secure forms and electronic signatures are available in specific plans. Additional security features include hidden IP addresses in e-mail headers, two-step verification and HIPAA-compliant encryption.

Instant messaging An instant messaging service, Hush Messenger, was offered until July 1, 2011.

Compromises to email privacy

Hushmail received favorable reviews in the press. It was believed that possible threats, such as demands from the legal system to reveal the content of traffic through the system, were not imminent in Canada – unlike the United States – and that if data were to be handed over, encrypted messages would be available only in encrypted form. Developments in November 2007 led to doubts amongst security-conscious users about Hushmail's security – specifically, concern over a backdoor. The issue originated with the non-Java version of the Hush system. It performed the encrypt/decrypt steps on Hush's servers, and then used SSL to transmit the data to the user. The data is available as cleartext during this small window of time, with the passphrase being capturable at this point, facilitating the decryption of all stored messages and future messages using this passphrase. Hushmail stated that the Java version is also vulnerable, in that they may be compelled to deliver a compromised Java applet to a user. Hushmail supplied cleartext copies of private email messages associated with several addresses at the request of law enforcement agencies under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the United States: e.g. in the case of United States v. Stumbo. In addition, the contents of emails between Hushmail addresses were analyzed, and 12 CDs were supplied to U.S. authorities. Hushmail privacy policy states that it logs IP addresses in order "to analyze market trends, gather broad demographic information, and prevent abuse of our services." Hush Communications, the company that provides Hushmail, states that it will not release any user data without a court order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada and that other countries seeking access to user data must apply to the government of Canada via an applicable Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. Hushmail states, "...that means that there is no guarantee that we will not be compelled, under a court order issued by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada, to treat a user named in a court order differently, and compromise that user's privacy" and "[...]if a court order has been issued by the Supreme Court of British Columbia compelling us to reveal the content of your encrypted email, the "attacker" could be Hush Communications, the actual service provider."

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hushmail

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hushmail claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hushmail before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hushmail ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hushmail

In research: Hushmail appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hushmail in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hushmail is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cryptographic software, Internet privacy software, Internet properties established in 1999, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hushmail outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hushmail in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hushmail means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hushmail out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hushmail in simple terms?

Hushmail is an encrypted proprietary web-based email service offering PGP-encrypted e-mail and vanity domain service. Hushmail uses OpenPGP standards.

Why does Hushmail matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hushmail?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hushmail.