[Freedombox-discuss] Email Encryption Basics

[Jonathan Wilkes]

Apropos of the ongoing Petraeus media circus-- a box with a simple setup

to provide a basic email server would be very desirable
to a lot of people right now.  It's amazing that the explicit story in the media
isn't about data security-- but I can tell you from people's reactions who aren't
eveninto technology nor know about privacy issues, that's the implicit story.

-Jonathan



----- Original Message -----
> From: Nick M. Daly <nick.m.daly at gmail.com>
> To: freedombox-discuss at lists.alioth.debian.org
> Cc: 
> Sent: Friday, November 9, 2012 11:47 PM
> Subject: [Freedombox-discuss] Email Encryption Basics
> 
> I've recently had a few questions on encrypting emails and figured that
> sending this to the list might help.
> 
> Step 1: Use email safely (don't leak your password and be wary of
>         leaving server-side copies).
> 
> Step 2: Meet and trust people who you're going to exchange messages
>         with.  Until your electronic communication is secure, it can't
>         be trusted, so exchange key IDs in person.
> 
> Step 3: Read and understand email encryption.  Send yourself a few mails
>         and successfully decrypt them before you exchange mail with
>         other people.
> 
> Step 4: Back up your keys and revocation certificates.
> 
> Introduction to e-mail safety
> =============================
> 
> E-mail is one of the oldest forms of communication on the Internet. We often use 
> it to communicate very personal or otherwise sensitive information. It is very 
> important to understand why e-mail in its default configuration is not secure. 
> In the following chapters we will describe the different methods necessary to 
> secure your e-mail against known threats. We will also provide you with basic 
> knowledge to assess the risks involved in sending and receiving e-mail.
> 
>     
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/basic-internet-security/ch022_introduction-to-email-safety/
> 
> Introducing mail encryption (PGP)
> =================================
> 
> This chapter will introduce you to some basic concepts behind mail
> encryption. It is important to read to get some feeling of how mail
> encryption actually works and what its caveats and limitations are. PGP
> (Pretty Good Privacy) is the protocol we shall use for e-mail
> encryption. This protocol allows us to digitally sign and encrypt mail
> messages. It works on an end-to-end basis: messages will be encrypted on
> your own computer and will only be decrypted by the recipient of the
> message. There is no possibility for a 'man-in-the-middle' to decipher
> the contents of your encrypted message. This excludes the subject lines
> and the 'from' and 'to' addresses, which unfortunately are not 
> encrypted
> in this protocol.
> 
>     
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/basic-internet-security/ch027_mail-encryption-gpg/
> 
> Nick
> 
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