Gliph launches new Cloaked Email service that'll hide your real email address from prying eyes

Gliph, an online and mobile service that lets you send text messages anonymously, has expanded its offerings to include a new Cloaked Email service. As its name implies, Cloaked Email lets you hide your real email address when you send and receive email from someone that you don't know. It's a terrific way to protect your email from marketers and other ne'er-do-wells who want to add your address to spam email lists.

The Cloaked Email service uses aliases for your real email address and acts as a relay between your real email account and the recipient of your email. This architecture lets you cloak your email, but still keep the convenience of using your normal inbox to send and receive emails. It's perfect for those situations when you are forced to enter an email address on a website or when you need to communicate with strangers via a service like Craigslist.

How it works

First, you need to sign up for the Gliph service and download the app to your iPhone. If you want to send a cloaked email, you must login to the web app or launch the mobile app and select "Send New Cloaked Email" to get started. The email interface includes your standard email fields so you can add in your recipient, a subject and a message body. There is no support for attachments at first, but you can earn the ability to use attachments by inviting others to join Gliph. Once you're done composing your email, you can hit send, and the email will be sent using your cloaked alias. When the recipient responds to your email, the message will go to the Cloaked Email address, which will then forward it to the inbox of your real email account.

What happens next is the feature that sets Gliph apart from a service like Craigslist which hides your email when someone contacts you about a post, but doesn't hide it in subsequent emails. When you respond back using your normal email client and your real email account, Gliph takes that email, strips out the header information with your real email address and sends it using your Cloaked Email alias. Even though you are sending and receiving emails using your real email account, the recipient never sees your actual email address thanks to Gliph.

First Impressions

I've been testing the service for a short time and can confirm it hides your email as advertised. I was able to send and receive Cloaked Emails using my gmail account, and the recipient couldn't find a trace of my real email address anywhere in the conversation. We even checked the email header information and it contained only the cloaked email account information.

The relaying of emails through Gliph's cloaked email service was also speedy. I sent an email, and it arrived in the recipient's inbox in less than a minute. Of course, I was likely only one of a handful of people using the service, so this fast transmission may slow down as more and more people start using a Cloaked Email address.

One of the strengths of Gliph's Cloaked Email is its convenience. Once you sign up for Gliph, it is extremely easy to send and receive Cloaked Emails because the service uses your regular email inbox. You don't have to check another account or log into to another service to keep track of a conversation. It's all there in your inbox for you to view and archive. This ease of use means that I will likely to continue to use the service.

The biggest drawback I encountered involved sending the initial email. To send someone an email using your Cloaked account, you have to use the Gliph web app or mobile app to send the first email. You can't setup your Cloaked Email address as an alias in your email client, so you must launch the app if you want to start a conversation. You can, however, provide your cloaked email address to others, who can use it to send an email to you via Gliph's service.

Conclusion

Overall, I was impressed with the Cloaked Email service. It was very effective at hiding my email address from others. I also appreciated the convenience of being able to use my regular email inbox to send and receive cloaked emails.

The Gliph text messaging service and Cloaked Email are both free. All Gliph users get one free Cloaked Email address and can earn more cloaks by inviting users to join the service. If you are interested in checking out Cloaked Email, you will need to claim a Gliph as shown in this video and then download the iPhone app from the iOS App Store.

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Gliph's Cutting-Edge Cloaked EmailTM Protects Email Privacy

PORTLAND, August 14th, 2012 – Gliph, a one-of-a-kind mobile and web app, today announced the availability of Cloaked Email, a new and innovative method for protecting the privacy of users' email addresses.

Cloaked Email allows users to both send and receive email using their normal email client, while keeping their real email address a secret. Email sent to the forwarded to users' real email addresses. When the user replies, their real email address is automatically replaced with the cloak address.

This design is perfect for situations like Craigslist communications and transactions, where users often prefer to keep their real-time identity under wraps. "We're excited about how Cloaked Email provides Craigslist users in particular with a new tool to protect their anonymity," said Rob Banagale, co-founder and CEO of Gliph. "We all have situations where we'd prefer to keep our actual email address private. Cloaked Email makes this convenient for everyone."

In addition to general privacy protection, Cloaked Email offers Gliph users a new layer of protection against potential data breaches. By registering for a website or newsletter using a Cloaked Email address instead of a real one, Gliph users can limit their exposure to breach or attack.
"As we've seen with the recent attacks against Blizzard, Yahoo and Stratfor, unfortunately, data breaches are becoming a problem for everyone," said Nicholas Asch, co-founder and CTO of Gliph. "From major gaming companies to global intelligence service providers, it just doesn't pay to use your real email address if you can avoid it."

Each Gliph user is given one free cloak when they sign up for Gliph. Additional cloaks can be earned by inviting new users to the service. After five successful invites, email attachments are automatically enabled on all past and future cloaks.

About Gliph
Gliph is an award-winning digital identity platform featuring mobile and web applications that provide a secure way to send messages and protect personal information. Protecting private data and messages using AES-256 encryption, Gliph sets a new standard for consumer privacy and information management. Gliph is available for free on the App Store (https://gli.ph/iphone); the Android Marketplace (https://gli.ph/android); and as a mobile web app (https://gli.ph/m). For more information, visit https://gli.ph.