Safest Email Service

PoGee

I've been doing a paper self assessment for over 20 years but think it's time to go online. Wonder if someone can help with a few questions.
What's the safest email server?
Is Hotmail same as outlook?
Does Hotmail use HTTPS?
Should I pick a server that uses Https?
Is protonmail and/or tutanota safer?

wongataa

Microsoft webmail was rebranded to Outlook a few years ago. Before that it was Live and before that it was Hotmail. Yes Hotmail is now Outlook. You would be hard pressed to find a website that does not use HTTPS nowadays.

PHK

Just to point out that HTTPS relates to the web interface and not to the underlying email service. You want a service that uses TLS encryption (many nowadays) and DKIM authentication (most nowadays) 

tacpot12

Outlook is as secure as most email services; I doublt you will find one that is much more secure without it making a selling point of its security, and then you will have to pay for it. 

I am slightly confused as to why email security is a concern for Self Assessment Returns? Email isn't used when you complete an online Self Assessment Return, and HMRC only send notifcations and reminders via email. They never send any of your tax or income details via email.

PoGee

@tacpot12 - it was in case someone attempted to hack onto my HMRC account via email.....when I left high school, computers had only just arrived so I'm only fairly confident with computers but still not sure how secure they (+all things online)are.

flaneurs_lobster

Have you registered and obtained your Government Gateway Id and the other details that are required to fill in your Self Assessment online?

Olinda99

gmail (google) or outlook (microsoft - was called hotmail) are safe.

choose a good password - one you don't use anywhere else.

if you want you can also have 2FA eg a text to your phone with a code that you input after the password.

PoGee

flaneurs_lobster said:

Have you registered and obtained your Government Gateway Id and the other details that are required to fill in your Self Assessment online?

Not yet. Need to get it sorted soonish. Our postie can't read.....

Heedtheadvice

As mentioned above email only used for messages by HMRC.

To access your Assessment you need to get Government Gateway secure access and other info such as your Unique Tax Reference (UTR) and 2 factor authentication in use by phone so pretty secure - much more so than most ( but not all) email systems.

There is no (to the best of my knowledge) end to end encryption involved with HMRC  emails.

deskhelp

You can use Gsuite, or your own domain with Email hosting, lot of them offer https SSL free with email encryption.