X-Git-Url: https://vcs.fsf.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=index.html;h=31b4996a3335be0a79710efd9c9c407162452be6;hb=9362e9695410a42316fa2f5984fe6a7571671702;hp=76b449604eaee8edf2ebd091945ccb4df212baaf;hpb=a9d8e0253426a4bf392d8465e9f8c83403b52e09;p=enc-live.git diff --git a/index.html b/index.html index 76b4496..31b4996 100644 --- a/index.html +++ b/index.html @@ -3,75 +3,87 @@ - Email Self-Defense - a guide to fighting surveillance with GnuPG - + Email Self-Defense - a guide to fighting surveillance with GnuPG encryption + - - - - -

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Email Self-Defense

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Email Self-Defense is a project of the Free Software Foundation. The FSF works to secure freedom for computer users by promoting the development and use of free (as in freedom) software and documentation.

We have big plans to get it in the hands of people under bulk surveillance all over the world, and make more tools like it. Can you make a donation to help us achieve that goal?

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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? + +

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Bulk surveillance violates our fundamental rights and makes free speech risky. But we're far from helpless to do something about it. This guide will teach you a basic surveillance self-defense skill: email encryption. Once you've finished, you'll be able to send and receive emails that are coded to make sure that a surveillance agent or thief can't intercept your email and read it.

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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). Learn more about free software at fsf.org.

+ + Bulk surveillance violates our fundamental rights and makes free speech risky. This guide will teach you a basic surveillance self-defense skill: email encryption. Once you've finished, you'll be able to send and receive emails that are coded to make sure that a surveillance agent or thief that intercepts your email can't read it. All you need is a computer with an Internet connection, an email account and about half an hour.

Let's get started!

Even if you have nothing to hide, using encryption helps protect the privacy of people you communicate with, and makes life difficult for bulk surveillance systems. If you do have something important to hide, you're in good company; these are the same tools that Edward Snowden used to share his famous secrets about the NSA.

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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!

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#1 Get the pieces

All you need to start is a computer with an Internet connection, an email account and about half an hour. You can use your existing email account for this without affecting it.

Most GNU/Linux operating systems come with GnuPG installed on them, so you don't have to donwload it. Before configuring GnuPG though, you'll need any one of these desktop email programs installed on your computer: Icedove (for Debian GNU/Linux) or Thunderbird (for other GNU/Linux flavors). 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.

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Most GNU/Linux operating systems come with GnuPG installed on them, so you don't have to download it. Before configuring GnuPG though, you'll need a desktop email program installed on your computer. Most GNU/Linux distributions have a free software version of the Thunderbird email program available to install. This guide will work with them, in addition to 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.

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What's a wizard?: A wizard is a series of windows that pop up to make it easy to get something done on a computer, like installing a program. You click through it, selecting options as you go.
My email program can't find my account or isn't downloading my mail?: Before Googling, we recommend you start by asking other people who use your email system, to figure out the correct settings.
My email program can't find my account or isn't downloading my mail: Before searching the Web, we recommend you start by asking other people who use your email system, to figure out the correct settings.
Don't see a solution to your problem?: Please let us know on the feedback page.

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On the second screen, titled "Signing," select "No, I want to create per-recipient rules for emails that need to be signed."

Use the default options until you reach the screen titled "Create Key".

On the screen titled "Create Key," pick a strong password! Your password should be at least 12 characters and include at least one lower case and upper case letter and at least one number or punctuation symbol. Don't forget the password, or all this work will be wasted!

The program will take a little while to finish the next step, the "Key Creation" screen. While you wait, do something else with your computer, like watching a movie or browsing the Web. The more you use the computer at this point, the faster the key creation will go.

When the OpenPGP Confirm screen pops up, select Generate Certificate and choose to save it in a safe place on your computer (we recommend making a folder called "Revocation Certificate" in your home folder and keeping it there. You'll learn more about the revocation certificate in Section 5. The setup wizard will ask you to move it onto an external device, but that isn't necessary at this moment.

After creating your key, the Enigmail set-up wizard automatically uploaded it to a keyserver, an online computer that makes everyone's keys available through the Internet.

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In many new email programs, the main menu is represented by an image of three stacked horizontal bars. OpenPGP may be inside a section called Tools.

The wizard says that it cannot find GnuPG.

Open whatever program you usually use for installing software, and search for GnuPG, then install it. Then restart the Engimail setup wizard by going to OpenPGP → Setup Wizard.

What does OpenPGP mean?

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OpenPGP is a protocol that GnuPG uses, just like HTTP is a protocol for the Web. It's a slightly confusing name that Enigmail uses for its menus.

Open whatever program you usually use for installing software, and search for GnuPG, then install it. Then restart the Engimail setup wizard by going to OpenPGP → Setup Wizard.

Don't see a solution to your problem?

Please let us know on the feedback page.

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Step 2.b Upload your public key to a keyserver

In your email program's menu, select OpenPGP → Key Management.

Right click on your key and select Upload Public Keys to Keyserver. Use the default keyserver in the popup.

Now anyone who wants to send you an encrypted message can download your public key from the Internet. +

Now someone who wants to send you an encrypted message can download your public key from the Internet. There are multiple keyservers that you can select from the menu when you upload, but they are all copies of each other, so it doesn't matter which one you use. However, it sometimes takes a few hours for them to match each other when a new key is uploaded.

Troubleshooting

The progress bar never finishes: Close the upload popup, make sure you are on the Internet and try again. If that doesn't work, try again, selecting a different keyserver.
My key doesnt appear in the list: Try checking Show Default Keys.
Don't see a solution to your problem?: Please let us know on the feedback page.

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Enigmail can't find Adele'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.

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GnuPG, OpenPGP, what?

You're using a program called GnuPG, but the menu in your email program is called OpenPGP. Confusing, right? In general, the terms GnuPG, GPG, GNU Privacy Guard, OpenPGP and PGP are used interchangeably, though they all have slightly different meanings.

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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. You'd follow the same steps if communicating with a real person. Then you'll send your first signed email to a real person!

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.

Step 3.a Send Adele 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.

Put at least one word (whatever you want) in the subject and body of the email, then hit send.

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.

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 one, you'll be doing just the same thing as when corresponding with a real person.

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.

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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.

Next to the key, you'll notice an icon of a pencil. Clicking this tells Enigmail to add a special, uniqe 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."

To encrypt and 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.

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Important: Subject lines are not encrypted

Important: Security tips

Even if you encrypted your email, the subject line is not encrypted, so don't put private information there. The sending and receiving addresses aren't encrypted either, so they could be read by a surveillance system. When you send attachments, Enigmail will give you an option of whether you want to encrypt them.

It's also good practice to click the key icon in your email composition window before you start to write. Otherwise, your email client could save an unencrypted draft on the mail server, potentially exposing it to snooping.

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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.

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 with information about the status of Adele's key.

Notice the bar that Enigmail shows you above the message, with information about the status of Adele's key.

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#4 Learn the Web of Trust

Email encryption is a powerful technology, but it has a weakness; it requires a way to verify that a person's public key is actually theirs. Otherwise, there would be no way to stop an attacker from making an email address with your friends name, creating keys to go with it and impersonating your friend.

Email encryption is a powerful technology, but it has a weakness; it requires a way to verify that a person's public key is actually theirs. Otherwise, there would be no way to stop an attacker from making an email address with your friend's name, creating keys to go with it and impersonating your friend. That's why the free software programmers that developed email encryption created keysigning and the Web of Trust.

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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, into a giant network. The more signatures a key has, and the more signatures its signers' keys have, the more trustworthy that key is.

That's why the programmers that developed email encryption created keysigning and the Web of Trust. When you sign someone's key, you are publicly saying that you trust that it does belong to them and not an impostor.

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.

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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 are trying to communicate to verify which one to use.

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 GnuPG users, connected to each other by chains of trust expressed through signatures, into a giant Web. The more signatures a key has, and the more signatures it's signers' keys have, the more trustworthy that key is.

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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.

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The more you can encrypt your messages, the better. This is because, if you only encrypt emails occasionally, each encrypted message could raise a red flag for surveillance systems. If all or most of your email is encrypted, people doing surveillance won't know where to start.

That's not to say that only encrypting some of your email isn't helpful -- it's a great start and it makes bulk surveillance more difficult. And even people that encrypt as much as they can are still limited to those of their contacts that have public keys.

That's not to say that only encrypting some of your email isn't helpful -- it's a great start and it makes bulk surveillance more difficult.

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Section 5: Use it Well

Be wary of invalid keys

GnuPG makes email safer, but it's still important to watch out for invalid keys, which 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 it was encrypted with her key, it will have a message from OpenPGP at the top, which most likely says "OpenPGP: Part of this message encrypted."

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."

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.

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Copy your revocation certificate to somewhere safe

Remember when you created your keys and saved the revocation cerfiticate that GnuPG made? It's time to copy that cerfiticate onto the safest digital storage that you have -- the ideal thing is a flash drive, disk or hard drive stored in a safe place in your home.

Remember when you created your keys and saved the revocation certificate that GnuPG made? It's time to copy that certificate onto the safest digital storage that you have -- the ideal thing is a flash drive, disk or hard drive stored in a safe place in your home.

If your private key ever gets lost or stolen, you'll need this certificate file.

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Important: act swiftly if someone gets your private key

If you lose your private key or someone else gets ahold of it (say, by stealing or cracking your computer), it's important to revoke it immediately before someone else uses it to steal your identity. This guide doesn't cover how to revoke a key, but it only takes a minute. We recommend you Google it or seek help from a skilled friend. After you're done revoking, send an email to everyone with whom you usually use your key to make sure they know.

If you lose your private key or someone else gets ahold of it (say, by stealing or cracking your computer), it's important to revoke it immediately before someone else uses it to read your encrypted email. This guide doesn't cover how to revoke a key, but you can follow the instructions on the GnuPG site. After you're done revoking, send an email to everyone with whom you usually use your key to make sure they know.

Make it part of your online identity

Start writing your key ID anywhere someone would see your email address. Add it to your email signature, so that anyone corresponding with you knows that they can donwload your public key and verify that it's the correct one. It's also good to post it on your media profile, blog, Website, or business card.

We need to get our culture to the point that we feel like something is missing when we see an email address without a public key ID.

Make your public key part of your online identity

First add your public key fingerprint to your email signature, then compose an email to at least five of your friends, telling them you just set up GnuPG and mentioning your public key fingerprint. Link to this guide and ask them to join you. Don't forget that there's also an awesome infographic to share.

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Start writing your public key fingerprint anywhere someone would see your email address: your social media profiles, blog, Website, or business card. (At the Free Software Foundation, we put ours on our staff page.) We need to get our culture to the point that we feel like something is missing when we see an email address without a public key fingerprint.

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#6 Next steps

You've now completed the basics of email encryption with GnuPG, taking action against bulk surveillance. A pat on the back to you! Want to do more to secure privacy for yourself and the people you communicate with?

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Go to a keysigning party

Keysigning parties are social events designed to build the Web of Trust. Participants match each others' photo IDs and key IDs, and then get out their laptops and sign each other's public keys. They're a great way to meet likeminded people and learn about new privacy tools, as well as build up people's trust in your key. Look for keysignings at tech events, hackerspaces and nerdy parties.

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Work for political change

Encrypting our email is a powerful direct action, but to change the system, we also have to go to the root. One of the key things needed is reducing the amount of data collected about us in the first place.

To learn more and participate in efforts for change, join the Free Software Foundation's mailing list.

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Protect more of your digital life

Learn surveillance-resistant technologies for instant messages, hard drive storage, online sharing and more at the Free Software Directory's Privacy Pack and prism-break.org.

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Make Email Self-Defense tools even better

Leave feedback and suggest improvements to this guide, or email us at campaigns@fsf.org if you'd like to help maintain or translate it.

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If you like programming, you can contribute code to GnuPG or Enigmail

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If you can't do any of these, you can always donate to the Free Software Foundation so we can get Email Self-Defense into the hands of as many people as possible.

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Click here when you're done

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The images on this page are under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (or later version), and the rest of it is under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license (or later version). — Why these licenses?

Fonts used in the guide & infographic: Dosis by Pablo Impallari, Signika by Anna Giedryś Archivo Narrow by Omnibus-Type, PXL-2000 by Florian Cramer.

Version 2.0, launched 6/18/2014.

Download the source packages for this guide and for the infographic. Fonts used in the guide & infographic: Dosis by Pablo Impallari, Signika by Anna Giedryś Archivo Narrow by Omnibus-Type, PXL-2000 by Florian Cramer.

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Infographic and guide design by Journalism++