Why secure email may be an illusion

For many years now, advertising a “public key” has been a badge of online savvy. The pages-long blocks of randomized text signify that a journalist or activist can send and receive encrypted messages using the Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, technology.

But as links to public keys became as common as blue Twitter verification check marks, PGP’s magical cloak was pierced this month with research identifying ways hackers can decrypt messages that are supposed to be readable only by sender and recipient. The research also identified a vulnerability with S/MIME encryption used by the government and corporations.