I did buy StartMail once. It didn't take me long to figure out that in order for anyone else on the planet to be able to read my emails, I'd have to give each one security questions to answer first.
How to arrange security questions? Via your smart phone? A free email provider, like Gmail? Snail mail?
No thank you. It doesn't matter what you use to provide all future recipients with 'security questions', they'll all be intercepted and read by outsiders, so there is absolutely no security whatsoever.
It's an absolutely ridiculous system and most assuredly NOT worth $60 a year!
Hi CJ,
There are two kinds of optional encryption available with Startmail: PGP and Question and Answer. With PGP, you can email anyone else who has PGP set up, even recipients who use PGP outside of StartMail.
The benefit of Question and Answer (Q&A) encryption is you can communicate encrypted with someone who doesn't have PGP set up -- even if that person has limited technology skills and/or an email service outside of StartMail.
You don't necessarily have to communicate a secret question and answer in advance with someone you know. You just have set up a question with an answer the recipient would know, but would be hard for someone else to guess. Here is more information on how this works: https://support.startmail.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/534/0/question-amp-answer-encryption-method
StartMail makes encryption easy, even for beginners. Coming up with a secret question and answer may take some care initially, but many users believe it is worthwhile for their privacy. That said, we recognize this isn't for everyone. Thank you for giving it a try.