Email Security Blog

I sent an email with a word doc as an attachment to a friend. Now she is very upset about it and says that sending her an attachment like that was an equivalent to posting it on the NY Times: "now anybody can see what you have written to me".

Is this true? If I were to delete it from my machine and she were to delete it from her machine, does the message still exist for any experienced hacker to be able to get it from cyberspace?

Could it be that I already have hackers that are spying on the email that I write and that they already have the info?

It was very innocuous information; just something that my addressee does not want to have public.

Also, "if the damage has already been done", is there anyway to "undo" the damage?

Also, if I post information to Yahoo! Groups are others outside of the group able to access who are the members of that group or there postings?

Is info in an attachment sent via email less secure than info sent in the body of an email?

Thanks!

I don't know what's the environment in terms of what kind of email server or backup policy you have, but here is a couple of tips for Microsoft Outlook:

If you read email and deleted it permanently the same day you are most likely ok. If it's a corporate email and the message spend a night in a mailbox (even in Deleted Items) then most likely it was saved into backup and it can be restored.

Outlook saves open attachments in Internet Temporary Files. Your friend has to find that folder and check that it's there.

It doesn't sound like a lot of damage unless there is some legal action - then your email can be found, restored, and work as an evidence Ask ForensicGirl about it