A new way of getting emails from friends and family using a private messaging service has been unveiled by Cisco, and it comes in the wake of a spate of hacks targeting the firm’s servers.
The company has revealed how it has taken control of the credentials used to send and receive private emails from one of its networks.
The practice of using a “private” email address for private communication was first disclosed last year by researchers at the cybersecurity firm Citizen Lab, and has since been used by companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Twitter.
Citizen Lab also discovered a new way to send emails using the system, which is now part of the default email account for Cisco IP communicator users.
The new system is described as an automated system that only sends messages when a user’s account is approved by the company.
Users can then manually add the credentials to their accounts, using the option in the user interface or by visiting a website, which will then automatically log in.
The system can also be set up to automatically log out when a particular user is no longer logged in.
It is a “new” way to get private emails, says John Pappas, a senior security engineer at Citizen Lab.
“I think it’s a really nice way to do it, and I think it will be very useful for the wider community.”
The company said the new feature was not yet available to its customers and only supported one network at a time.
It will be interesting to see how many users use it.
But the idea of a service that only responds to private emails is already a familiar one.
A similar system called Senderless, for instance, uses the same approach to get email from friends, family and business.
For the new system, Cisco is building on the existing private messaging system, but it also adds a new layer of security by not requiring users to log in to their Cisco account.
It does not require any personal information, for example, nor does it ask for a password.
The use of private email for private communications, the company said, is “in keeping with our commitment to privacy, security and open access to information, and we expect that this new service will contribute to the continued development of this policy and encourage the use of new technologies in the future.”
