Follow up on GoDaddy email services over SSL connections
This is a follow up to: http://davidjsmitty.com/blog/me/archive/2007/01/20/godaddy-doesn-t-offer-ssl-encrypted-email-services.aspx
After a responsive email-chat with Jason Gauer from GoDaddy Quality Assurance, I've been made aware that it is in fact possible to receive emails over an SSL connection, but it's not possible to send emails over an SSL connection.
Well, that's half-way there, but I'm still not feeling very secure! Keep those emails going folks! GoDaddy needs to know we want to send emails over a secure connection too! Click to send email to GoDaddy (Bob Parsons! Help us keep our emails safe!)
From GoDaddy's response: " ... but that attempting to support it [SSL] on SMTP mail would be very difficult, since it would only work if the receiving server also supported SSL."
How can Google do this, but GoDaddy can't? Are there more experienced people out there that can descibe to me and the rest of the peanut gallery what the technical challenges are? (Isn't there a big network of SSL enabled relay servers? Am I too optimistic?)
Updated details on GoDaddy Email connection settings
POP3 / SMTP Off-site connection settings (e.g. your Outlook, Eudora, etc.)
Outgoing Server(not SSL): smtpout.secureserver.net
Port: 80
Username: youremail@yoursite.com
Password: youremailpass
Incoming Server: mail.yoursite.com (if you set up your DNS yourself, it may be different)
Port: 995
Username: youremail@yoursite.com
Password: youremailpass
Note: The SSL certificate that they use for their POP3 servers (pop.secureserver.net) won't match the domain of your website (mail.yoursite.com), so you'll have to manually accept the certificate in Outlook.
Full Disclosure
GoDaddy's response to my first email:
Dear Mr. Smith,
Thank you for your email, and for your feedback regarding our email services. I spoke with the Development Group Lead for our email services about the possibility of adding SSL support. He informed me that we do support SSL for incoming (POP3) mail, but that attempting to support it on SMTP mail would be very difficult, since it would only work if the receiving server also supported SSL. As such we do not have any plans to implement SSL support for outgoing mail. However, I will forward your comments along, and should the issue be revisited in the future, your comments will be available to add to the discussion.
Thank you again for your feedback. Please feel free to email in any other comments or suggestions you may have in the future, as feedback is always welcomed.
Kindest Regards,
Jason Gauer
Corporate Quality Assurance
GoDaddy.com
GoDaddy's Response to my second email:
Dear Mr. Smith,
Thank you for your response. To receive mail over an SSL connection (if you are using Outlook or Outlook Express), toggle the setting on the 'Advanced' Tab of your account settings that is labeled "This server requires an SSL-secured connection". That should automatically change the port from 110 to 995, and facilitate the receiving of mail on a secured port.
In regards to SMTP over SSL, I will forward your response along to the Group Lead for email. Hopefully as the technology continues to advance, and more companies offer SSL enabled email, we can revisit SSL-enabled SMTP and implement it for our email services.
Please feel free to email in any other comments or suggestions you may have in the future, as feedback is always welcomed.
Kindest Regards,
Jason Gauer
Corporate Quality Assurance
GoDaddy.com
As always, comments are welcome!