Rogers SMTP and SSL for email

Rogers issued an alert www.rogers.com/smtp which is causing some panic in the overall security of your email.  First I want to set your mind at east that any email communication you are sending that has confidential information probably shouldn’t be sent via email in the first place as it is open for people to grab while in transit.

With that said, it’s a good idea to use SSL for additional security, but you may not like the popup that appears every single time you open Outlook.  This reminds you that you are using a security certificate that cannot be verified and asks if you like to continue using this certificate anyway.

If you do not click “Yes” to this message, your emails will not send and/or receive.  You will have to exit your email program and open it again to be prompted again to click Yes this time.  It should only appear the first time you open your email program and not prompt you again until you close your email program and open it again.

Note: If you are using webmail (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, etc.) to check email, you will not be affected by this and any SSL requirements should be in place already.  If you are using a Rogers email address you are covered, if you are using your own email domain like YourName@YourCompany.ca you will have to confirm with your email host provider that you are secured with SSL by default using webmail.

Also note, if you are using webmail and you have a crappy password, SSL will do nothing for you, as someone can hack your account and see everything in your Inbox, sent items, and trash folder.  Any password that doesn’t not meet minimum requirements can easily be hacked.