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Email Self-Defense
- +Email Self-Defense
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We fight for computer user's rights, and promote the development of free (as in freedom) software. Resisting bulk surveillance is very important to us.
We want to heavily promote tools like this in-person and online, to help as many people as possible take the first step towards using free software to protect their privacy. Can you make a donation or become a member to help us achieve this goal?
+We fight for computer users' rights, and promote the development of free (as in freedom) software. Resisting bulk surveillance is very important to us.
We want to translate this guide into more languages, and make a version for encryption on mobile devices. Please donate, and help people around the world take the first step towards protecting their privacy with free software.
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In addition to using encryption, standing up to surveillance requires fighting politically for a reduction in the amount of data collected on us, but the essential first step is to protect yourself and make surveillance of your communication as difficult as possible. Let's get started!
-#1 Get the pieces
-This guide relies on software which is freely licensed; it's completely transparent and anyone can copy it or make their own version. This makes it safer from surveillance than proprietary software (like Windows). To defend your freedom as well as protect yourself from surveillance, we recommend you switch to a free software operating system like GNU/Linux. Learn more about free software at fsf.org.
+This guide relies on software which is freely licensed; it's completely transparent and anyone can copy it or make their own version. This makes it safer from surveillance than proprietary software (like Mac OS). To defend your freedom as well as protect yourself from surveillance, we recommend you switch to a free software operating system like GNU/Linux. Learn more about free software at fsf.org.
To get started, you'll need a desktop email program installed on your computer. This guide works with free software versions of the Thunderbird email program, and with Thunderbird itself. Email programs are another way to access the same email accounts you can access in a browser (like Gmail), but provide extra features.
-If you are already have one of these, you can skip to Step 1.b.
+If you already have one of these, you can skip to Step 1.b.
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#3 Try it out!
-Now you'll try a test correspondence with a computer program named Adele, which knows how to use encryption. Except where noted, these are the same steps you'd follow when corresponding with a real, live person.
+Now you'll try a test correspondence with a computer program named Edward, which knows how to use encryption. Except where noted, these are the same steps you'd follow when corresponding with a real, live person.
-
- Step 3.a Send Adele your public key
+Step 3.a Send Edward your public key
This is a special step that you won't have to do when corresponding with real people. In your email program's menu, go to OpenPGP → Key Management. You should see your key in the list that pops up. Right click on your key and select Send Public Keys by Email. This will create a new draft message, as if you had just hit the Write button.
-Address the message to adele-en@gnupp.de. Put at least one word (whatever you want) in the subject and body of the email, then hit send.
+Address the message to edward-en@fsf.org. Put at least one word (whatever you want) in the subject and body of the email, then hit send.
-It may take two or three minutes for Adele to respond. In the meantime, you might want to skip ahead and check out the Use it Well section of this guide. Once she's responded, head to the next step. From here on, you'll be doing just the same thing as when corresponding with a real person.
+It may take two or three minutes for Edward to respond. In the meantime, you might want to skip ahead and check out the Use it Well section of this guide. Once he's responded, head to the next step. From here on, you'll be doing just the same thing as when corresponding with a real person.
Step 3.b Send a test encrypted email
-Write a new email in your email program, addressed to adele-en@gnupp.de. Make the subject "Encryption test" or something similar and write something in the body. Don't send it yet.
-Click the icon of the key in the bottom right of the composition window (it should turn yellow). This tells Enigmail to encrypt the email with the key you downloaded in the last step.
+Write a new email in your email program, addressed to edward-en@fsf.org. Make the subject "Encryption test" or something similar and write something in the body. Don't send it yet.
+Click the icon of the key in the bottom right of the composition window (it should turn yellow). This tells Enigmail to encrypt the email.
Next to the key, you'll notice an icon of a pencil. Clicking this tells Enigmail to add a special, unique signature to your message, generated using your private key. This is a separate feature from encryption, and you don't have to use it for this guide.
-Click Send. Enigmail will pop up a window that says "Recipients not valid, not trusted or not found."
+Click Send. Enigmail will pop up a window that says "Recipients not valid, not trusted or not found."
-To encrypt an email to Adele, you need her public key, and so now you'll have Enigmail download it from a keyserver. Click Download Missing Keys and use the default in the pop-up that asks you to choose a keyserver. Once it finds keys, check the first one (Key ID starting with 9), then select ok. Select ok in the next pop-up.
+To encrypt an email to Edward, you need his public key, so now you'll have Enigmail download it from a keyserver. Click Download Missing Keys and use the default in the pop-up that asks you to choose a keyserver. Once it finds keys, check the first one (Key ID starting with C), then select ok. Select ok in the next pop-up.
-Now you are back at the "Recipients not valid, not trusted or not found" screen. Select Adele's key from the list and click Ok. If the message doesn't send automatically, you can hit send now.
+Now you are back at the "Recipients not valid, not trusted or not found" screen. Select Edward's key from the list and click Ok. If the message doesn't send automatically, you can hit send now.
Troubleshooting
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-
- Enigmail can't find Adele's key +
- Enigmail can't find Edward's key
- Close the pop-ups that have appeared since you clicked. Make sure you are connected to the Internet and try again. If that doesn't work, repeat the process, choosing a different keyserver when it asks you to pick one.
- Don't see a solution to your problem?
- Please let us know on the feedback page. @@ -278,11 +305,11 @@
Step 3.c Receive a response
-When Adele receives your email, she will use her private key to decrypt it, then fetch your public key from a keyserver and use it to encrypt a response to you.
-Since you encrypted this email with Adele's public key, Adele's private key is required to decrypt it. Adele is the only one with her private key, so no one except her — not even you — can decrypt it.
-It may take two or three minutes for Adele to respond. In the meantime, you might want to skip ahead and check out the Use it Well section of this guide.
-When you receive Adele's email and open it, Enigmail will automatically detect that it is encrypted with your public key, and then it will use your private key to decrypt it.
-Notice the bar that Enigmail shows you above the message, with information about the status of Adele's key.
+When Edward receives your email, he will use his private key to decrypt it, then fetch your public key from a keyserver and use it to encrypt a response to you.
+Since you encrypted this email with Edward's public key, Edward's private key is required to decrypt it. Edward is the only one with his private key, so no one except him — not even you — can decrypt it.
+It may take two or three minutes for Edward to respond. In the meantime, you might want to skip ahead and check out the Use it Well section of this guide.
+When you receive Edward's email and open it, Enigmail will automatically detect that it is encrypted with your public key, and then it will use your private key to decrypt it.
+Notice the bar that Enigmail shows you above the message, with information about the status of Edward's key.
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When you sign someone's key, you are publicly saying that you trust that it does belong to them and not an impostor. People who use your public key can see the number of signatures it has. Once you've used GnuPG for a long time, you may have hundreds of signatures. The Web of Trust is the constellation of all GnuPG users, connected to each other by chains of trust expressed through signatures, forming a giant network. The more signatures a key has, and the more signatures its signers' keys have, the more trustworthy that key is.
-People's public keys are usually identified by their key fingerprint, which is a string of digits like DD878C06E8C2BEDDD4A440D3E573346992AB3FF7 (for Adele's key). You can see the fingerprint for your public key, and other public keys saved on your computer, by going to OpenPGP → Key Management in your email program's menu, then right clicking on the key and choosing Key Properties. It's good practice to share your fingerprint wherever you share your email address, so that so that people can double-check that they have the correct public key when they download yours from a keyserver.
+People's public keys are usually identified by their key fingerprint, which is a string of digits like F357AA1A5B1FA42CFD9FE52A9FF2194CC09A61E8 (for Edward's key). You can see the fingerprint for your public key, and other public keys saved on your computer, by going to OpenPGP → Key Management in your email program's menu, then right clicking on the key and choosing Key Properties. It's good practice to share your fingerprint wherever you share your email address, so that people can double-check that they have the correct public key when they download yours from a keyserver.
-You may also see public keys referred to by their key ID, which is simply the last 8 digits of the fingerprint, like 92AB3FF7 for Adele. The key ID is visible directly from the Key Management Window. This key ID is like a person's first name (it is a useful shorthand but may not be unique to a given key), whereas the fingerprint actually identifies the key uniquely without the possibility of confusion. If you only have the key ID, you can still look up the key (as well as its fingerprint), like you did in Step 3, but if multiple options appear, you'll need the fingerprint of the person to whom are trying to communicate to verify which one to use.
+You may also see public keys referred to by their key ID, which is simply the last 8 digits of the fingerprint, like C09A61E8 for Edward. The key ID is visible directly from the Key Management Window. This key ID is like a person's first name (it is a useful shorthand but may not be unique to a given key), whereas the fingerprint actually identifies the key uniquely without the possibility of confusion. If you only have the key ID, you can still look up the key (as well as its fingerprint), like you did in Step 3, but if multiple options appear, you'll need the fingerprint of the person to whom are trying to communicate to verify which one to use.
Step 4.a Sign a key
In your email program's menu, go to OpenPGP → Key Management.
-Right click on Adele's public key and select Sign Key from the context menu.
+Right click on Edward's public key and select Sign Key from the context menu.
In the window that pops up, select "I will not answer" and click ok.
In your email program's menu, go to OpenPGP → Key Management → Keyserver → Upload Public Keys and hit ok.
-You've just effectively said "I trust that Adele's public key actually belongs to Adele." This doesn't mean much because Adele isn't a real person, but it's good practice.
+You've just effectively said "I trust that Edward's public key actually belongs to Edward." This doesn't mean much because Edward isn't a real person, but it's good practice.
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Important: Be wary of invalid keys
GnuPG makes email safer, but it's still important to watch out for invalid keys, which might have fallen into the wrong hands. Email encrypted with invalid keys might be readable by surveillance programs.
-In your email program, go back to the second email that Adele sent you. Because Adele encrypted it with your public key, it will have a message from OpenPGP at the top, which most likely says "OpenPGP: Part of this message encrypted."
+In your email program, go back to the second email that Edward sent you. Because Edward encrypted it with your public key, it will have a message from OpenPGP at the top, which most likely says "OpenPGP: Part of this message encrypted."
When using GnuPG, make a habit of glancing at that bar. The program will warn you there if you get an email encrypted with a key that can't be trusted.