Comments for How do I encrypt email?

Comment from BobC on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T14:25:50Z

I have installed Opaqueware to use with Outlook 2007. When I click encrypt, pop window appears saying 'The page you are looking for cannot be found'!

Not sure what is going on as the app is using IE settings.

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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Comment from Catmoves on 2009-05-06

2009-05-06T18:10:06Z

Got this when I tried AxCrypt link:
Not Found
The requested URL /d-axcrypt was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Are they out of business?

Typo on my part. Should be working now.

- Leo
07-May-2009

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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Comment from John O on 2009-03-05

2009-03-06T06:28:37Z

I've been playing with some free email encryption softwares in last few days. Here are the things I tried so far:

Hushmail - Easy to use. However I can't use my existing gmail account. The recipient needs to be a registered user, or I need to provide a secret question and answer. No installation required but need to go back to hushmail to get the email.

FirePGP - easy to use, love the integration with gmail. I can actually send encrypted email directly on Gmail's page! However, I can't send email to other people, and recipient needs to install the software and use firefox.

Sendinc - Need to use their page to send the email. Can send to anyone, but needs to go back to sendinc's page to read the email.

Opaqueware - easy to use, integrated with gmail. Can set time limit and get notification! Can send to anyone, but recipient needs to install the software.

So far, I like Opaqueware more. Both FirePGP and Opaqueware let me encrypt on my machine - I don't want the provider to see my email. Opaqueware let me encrypt to anyone and I really like their notification.

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Comment from Chad on 2009-03-04

2009-03-04T22:28:48Z

I have done a LOT of searching for an easy and free email encryption service to use, and quite frankly there are no "free" versions out there that are user friendly and allows you to manage the keys yourself and at the same time worrying if your recipient can read when it gets there. As far as sending the occasional email that needs to be encrypted I prefer to use hushmail.com it is not a large sized account for the free version, but if you are worried about the information you are going to be sending it works and it's easy to use. I do agree you are relying on someone else managing you keys, but lets face it some people just turn on the computer check email and surf the net for a while and that is it. In my opinion email encryption today is simply too much for the average user to handle. By the way I do like to use and recommend off-the-record (OTR) for my instant messenger client......

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Comment from David on 2009-03-04

2009-03-04T19:15:24Z

Bottom line, don't send anything by email you don't want anyone else to see. If it's that sensitive there's still registered mail or certified mail w/return receipts...might take abit longer but atleast it's safe...

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Comment from Ionut D on 2009-03-03

2009-03-03T17:49:37Z

Come on, you said nothing about FireGPG for webmail GMAIL in Firefox http://getfiregpg.org/ It works just fine! And it's free. Any upgrades come as naturally and automatically as any Firefox plugins, so it never gets outdated.

Hadn't heard of it. After playing with it a little bit I agree it has a lot of promise, but "it works just fine" isn't quite how I'd qualify it. Definitely a few rough edges, especially for the average user. I ended up uninstalling it.

- Leo
04-Mar-2009

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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Comment from Jason on 2009-03-02

2009-03-02T17:37:23Z

I just started using voltage secureMail from voltage security to encrypt my email and I have to say it is the easiest email encryption solution I have ever used. After I installed it, all I had to do to send secure email was click the added "send secure" button in outlook. Also, it doesn't matter if the person I am sending to doesn't has secureMail, they can still read the message after they verify themselves. I think it has an advantage of PGP because it uses identity based encryption, which effectively makes my email address my public key. This is a great feature so i don't have to keep looking up the public key of everyone I want to send email to. I would definitely recommend SecureMail to everyone. Have you ever tried SecureMail Leo?

I was actually wondering when someone would mention services like this - there are several. My problem with them is simple: you must trust them, as they can decrypt your email. If you're not keeping your own encryption keys, and you're not performing the encryption and decryption on your own machine and under your own control, you're implicitly trusting someone else. The whole point (to me) of encrypted mail is that you only want to trust the recipient, and no one else.

- Leo
03-Mar-2009

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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Comment from John O on 2009-02-28

2009-02-28T08:04:42Z

I gave Thunderbird + Engimail a try. The installation is not as straight forward as I like. Need to first install Thunderbird, and then GnuPG. After that I need to go to Thunderbird -> Tool to add the Engimail plugin. Can't they make the whole things into one package?

Creating the key is easy - there is a wizard for it. I notice it says the key is good for 5 years. What will happen after that? Will my emails encrypted/signed by the old key stop working?

Encrypting is easy as well - just press the OpenGPG button. I notice it actually put some encoded strings in the email when I view it from gmail directly. But in Engiemail, it automatically decrypts it. Very nice!

However, now I run into a problem. How do I send encrypted emails to other people? I tried my other email account and Engimail complains it couldn't find the key. Looks like the recipient must first have a key in the server? This seems broken... What do I miss here?

That's how public key cryptography works: you need the public key of the person to whom you're sending email, so that they can then decrypt it with their private key.

- Leo
01-Mar-2009

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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Comment from Vincent on 2009-02-27

2009-02-27T19:32:43Z

I have to ask. How often is it really necessary to encrypt your email?

It really depends on your situation. For most people: rarely, or never. But for people who regularly send highly sensitive documents or information, encryption may be a solution that could or would be used regularly.

- Leo
01-Mar-2009

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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Comment from DSU on 2009-02-27

2009-02-27T18:02:29Z

--quote--
Right, but then everyone you send encrypted or signed email has to either have Thunderbird + Enigmail, or some other more painful solution to decrypt or validate.
-quote-

True, but my concern is making my life easier. If someone wants to use a painful solution to decrypting my email that is hardly my fault or concern.

It's your concern if you actually want them to READ your email.

- Leo
01-Mar-2009

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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Comment from John O on 2009-02-26

2009-02-27T05:45:44Z

Really appreciate the article! I will give Engimail a try. Thank you very much!

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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Comment from DSU on 2009-02-26

2009-02-26T18:52:34Z

If you use Thunderbird using the add-on Enigmail makes the process painless. It acts like a front end for the more painful parts of GnuPG.

Right, but then everyone you send encrypted or signed email has to either have Thunderbird + Enigmail, or some other more painful solution to decrypt or validate.

- Leo
27-Feb-2009

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A comment on: How do I encrypt email?

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