E-mail was developed with convenience, rather than security in mind. The truth of the matter is that all of the information that users include in their e-mail is transparent, meaning that it can be read at any point in time between transmission and reception. If individuals are disclosing private information, such as credit cards, passwords, personal information, this can be very risky. Furthermore, people acting on behalf of their businesses may be in the habit of exchanging sensitive or proprietary information by e-mail. This can also be very risky.

In order to mitigate the risks, there are certain things that users can do. First of all, users should not exchange any information over e-mail that they do not want strangers to read. While this may sound somewhat paranoid, it may be better to err on the side of caution: better safe then sorry. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. If private or sensitive information must be exchanged, users should become accustomed to using encryption programs.