Windows 7: This e-mail will self-destruct in five seconds

again depends from the program. There are programs that can safely delete stuff, like say eraser (delete and then write stuff to the space occupied by the deleted file, then delete agan), and is all what is needed for HDDs, SSD don't have this issue. Whatever is erased is gone for good.

And I doubt it will allow you to make backups and restore deleted stuff, unless it was coded badly anyway.

So how long before some Linux guy, using not the intended email client, but some hack he came up with, converts the email to an "in the clear" text message and he publishes the algorithm? I hope they didn't shell out a lot for R&D on this one! :)

Hi there
Any sort of email requires at least ONE sender, One receiver and a transmission medium -- so all of you thinking that any email can EVER be 100% protected - forget the whole idea of email.

If you are really paranoid use either a "One time pad" -- mathematically proven to be UNCRACKABLE or just stick to Snail Mail since the effort of tracking physical mail through the various mail systems around the world requires an intensive effort and certainly 99.9999% of people would not have their physical post tracked. It's also relatively easy for the recipient also to see if the item was "tampered with" in the mail.

What is one-time pad? - Definition from WhatIs.com

cheers
jimbo

+1 for snail mail (standard, cheapo kind, not trackable kinds).
Although for Italy you would then need to send 4-5 copies to be sure that at least one arrives at all.

a 100% protected system works as long as it is closed and the hardware is not tamperable. Like a company's internal network. Step outside and you lose everything.

Hi there
a one time pad is actually 100% safe. Whether It's actually even remotely decently conveniently useable is another issue though.

Nothing though is 100% closed -- with enough time money and effort one can always break in ANYWHERE whether by a physical break in or "nobbling" an insider.

Even so called safe "isolated" systems have their weakness points -- presumably if HUMANS are working on site Water and Sanitation facilities at a minimum need to be supplied so that's one way of possibly getting stuff in and out of the building.

Repairs and maintenance is another area -- you can't possibly inspect every packet of plaster / cement etc .

It's even possible I suppose to capture the President's Limo ("The Big Beast") -- while the VEHICLE is probably as break in proof as it's possible to get the weakness is it has to travel on ROADS and somewhere one could I suppose dig a tunnel under part of the route and by creating a sudden gigantic Pothole in the street the Limo would drop down underneath where the Secret Service guys would be met by well armed terrorists etc.

Cheers
jimbo

Seems to me like the dificutly would be to guarantee the reader of the email used the approved client app. If the theoretical Linux guru cracked the handshaking then I don't see how it would be enforced. A neater idea may be those pnuematic tubes. When you unroll the message it sets off a chemical reaction leaving you 2 seconds to read the note before it's up in smoke.