Email

Email (also e-mail, or in Somali warqad elektaroonig ah, electronic mail) is a system for sending and receiving written messages and files via computer networks such as the internet. Messages originate from a user, pass through mail servers, and remain in the recipient's mailbox until they open it. For this reason, sending does not require both parties to be online at the same time.

An email address consists of two parts separated by the @ symbol: the first part is the mailbox username, the second is the domain name (example: name@example.com). The domain is what the mail servers use to locate where the message should be delivered.

How it works

The user's client software sends messages to a mail server using the SMTP protocol (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). That server locates the recipient's mailbox server using the DNS database known as MX records. Once the message arrives, the user can read it via IMAP or POP3 protocols, or through webmail accessed in a browser. Each message contains a header with From, To, Subject, and date fields, and a body containing the text.

History

Mail systems on shared computers appeared in the 1960s, while transmission between different computers on the ARPANET network began in the early 1970s. The use of the @ symbol in addresses is associated with Ray Tomlinson. The SMTP protocol became standard in the 1980s, while email became widely accessible to the general public through webmail services in the 1990s and after.

Security and spam

The original design lacked a way to verify the sender's identity, which enabled address spoofing, unsolicited messages (spam), and phishing attacks designed to trick users into revealing login credentials. Verification methods such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, as well as encryption (TLS) between servers, were therefore introduced. Message content itself can be protected through end-to-end encryption such as PGP or S/MIME, but these remain uncommon in general use.

Use today

Email remains a fundamental tool for formal communication and business, and for online identity: many internet services use email addresses to create accounts or reset forgotten passwords. Immediate personal communication has largely shifted to instant messaging apps and social media, but email differs in that it is not tied to a single company—any address with a domain can communicate with any other.