This is kind of an extension on part 3 of my articles on GPG encryption. I talked very little about front-ends for GPG, so I’ll give you a quick simple (and free) way to use GPG for basic email encryption and signing.
Since I’m using Ubuntu Linux, I have a few options as to what program I’m going to use for sending and receiving mail. I’ve decided to use Mozilla Thunderbird, which is a free, fairly basic email/RSS program. However, what I’m really interested in is an add-on for it called Enigmail which integrates GPG security when you send/receive emails.
With Thunderbird, you set up your email accounts like normal. Thunderbird supports several mail server types, so it will work fine for most people. If you need support for Exchange mail servers, you can look into a mail client called Evolution for Linux.
To install the Enigmail addon, you can either install it from your distribution’s source, or in Thunderbird, click “Tools -> Addons” and then “get extensions”. Once you’ve installed Enigmail, it should show up in the Add-ons list:
Now you will have a GPG menu option in Thunderbird:
If this is all you’re using GPG for, then you’re pretty much set! To send an encrypted email, you just click “Encrypt Message” and if you have that email’s GPG key, it will use the email address to find it, and automatically encrypt it to that user’s key. Piece of cake! If you receive an encrypted email, it will do the same to decrypt it. You can of course override these settings (I haven’t created a public key for this email yet, so I can encrypt it to my other addresses if I choose).
Now, we’ve covered everything except our public keys… if you want people to be able to send you encrypted messages, you have to put your public key out there! We’ll cover this in more detail in the next article, and talk about key trust, and a few other things. But we’re 90% of the way there!
