Let’s say you’re helping a family member configure their cloud storage remotely. Then you are not going to send data such as the username and password by e-mail? To send sensitive information, you need secure, encrypted messages that self-destruct without leaving a trace, such as Privnote.
Step 1: New message
First a warning. We’re talking about Privnote.com, a legitimate service for creating private messages that self-destruct after being read. Last year, the website Privnotes.com also made the rounds in Google’s search results. That was a fake clone intended for phishing.
The real Privnote (without s, so www.privnote.com) is a free web service where you basically don’t have to leave an email address and it doesn’t even ask for an account or registration. You can therefore access the service via the computer or via a smartphone. Paste or type the message you want to send in the box New note.
Step 2: Encryption
Privnote will encrypt the message and generate a link that you can select and send to the intended recipient, for example via email. With that link, the other person can retrieve the message. This service has a comprehensive privacy policy that ensures that your message remains private across the board.
Privnote creates a link associated with the decryption key and does not save the message in a readable format at any time. This ensures that no one, including the administrators of Privnote, can read these messages. If the message has been read and destroyed, there is no way to recover it either.
Step 3: Options
It is possible to give the message a reference name. In addition, you can set when it should be automatically destroyed: after reading, after an hour, after 24 hours, after 7 days or after 30 days. You can even protect the message with a password that you make up yourself. Of course you have to communicate that password to the recipient in a secure way.
Finally, the service offers the option that you as the sender receive a notification when the message has been read and destroyed. To receive this optional read receipt, you will need to provide your email address again. Given the context, we are not in favor of that.
