How to encrypt email, encrypt your e-mail easily

Most e-mail messages you send travel vast distances over many networks, secure and insecure, monitored and uncontrolled, passing and making copies of itself to servers on the Internet. Encrypt your e-mail will all but the most dedicated hackers from collecting and reading your private communications. Use of personal e-mail confirmation, is freely available by Thawte, you can digitally sign your e-mail so that recipients can verify that you indeed, and encryption of messages, so that only intended recipients can view. Comodo is another company offering free digital certificates for personal use. You can get a free license by filling out a short and simple registration form.In short, almost anyone with access to one of these servers – or sniffing packets along the way – you can read my e-mail messages in plain text. Encrypt e-mail can be a cumbersome solution that should work not work consistently.The question is simple: even if your e-mail server via https or secure connection, your message is stored in a simple, clear text on the server and it will be passed to the host server as unencrypted. You also have no control over how your receiver connects to their e-mails. If you do not use a secure connection, it would be easy to download your e-mail clear.The the only solution for the general security is the encryption of e-mail message itself.
If someone wants to send a message that is for you to see that it would be encrypted using your public key. Your private key is required to decrypt the message, so even if someone intercepts the e-mail, it would be useless gibberish to them. When you send an e-mail to someone else, then your private key to digitally “sign” of the message so the recipient can be sure that it is yours.

PGP / GPG-based encryption

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and GPG (GNU Privacy Guard, an open source equivalent) is very similar to certificate-based encryption system of the above. Rely on public key cryptography, in short, as follows:

PGP and GPG are just the standard techniques and tools for the management of these two numbers, better known as keys.

The good news for GPG that all parts are free. The bad news is you can very cranky. I wrote an article about the use of a few years ago: How to send encrypted e-mail? passing through the steps. I really recommend for the average user, but if you at all technical, or simply enjoy this kind of geekery, you can see what it means.

Most e-mail programs do not include support for GPG / PGP keys. Thunderbird has a “Engimail, which adds support very beautiful.

Configure PGP in Thunderbird

• Start GPGP installer. It would GNUPGP under the Program Files directory.
• Once you have downloaded Enigmail in Thunderbird go to Tools -> Options -> Extensions -> Install new extension, and then choose the Enigmail extension file.
• When you restart Thunderbird with Enigmail installed, you’ll see the OpenPGP menu.
• Open it and go to Settings. Here you will find in the dialog, go to your GnuPGP binary. Click Browse. On my machine, GPG was installed under Program Files \ GNU \ GnuPG \ gpg.exe.
• Now you have your public / private key pair. From the menu select the OpenPGP keys.
• Create menu select New key pair. Select the e-mail address you want to create a key, and password. Hit the “Generate Key” button and relax – it can take several minutes.

When you’re done, you have the chance of a cancellation of the certificate. ” This certificate may be rebutted your public key only if your private key is ever compromised. Go ahead and obtain the cancellation of the certificate and save it.

When you have something to send encrypted e-mail. If someone PGP key from the OpenPGP menu buttons. From keyserver menu, select Find. Looking for another PGP user name or e-mail address and attach your keys to the key manager. Once it’s there you can encrypt mail to that person.

Then, write a message as usual. Encryption by clicking the little down in the bottom right corner of your compose window. You can also cryptographically signed message to prove that you want the little pencil. Both buttons will change to green to show that they are effective.