The useSsl argument only controls whether or not the client makes an SSL-wrapped connection. In other words, even if the useSsl parameter is false, SSL/TLS may still be used if the mail server supports the STARTTLS extension.
To disable all use of SSL/TLS, use the Connect(String, Int32, SecureSocketOptions, CancellationToken) overload with a value of SecureSocketOptions.None instead.
MailKit will throw
SslHandshakeException
when you connect usinguseSsl: false
.In order to have a completely non-secure connection over port 25, you need to use the Connect overload with
options: SecureSocketOptions.None
.https://stackoverflow.com/a/66066867/111266
From the MimeKit docs: