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Title: 04. Encryption 101: PGP on Windows
Date: 2013-10-17 19:32
Category: Data Privacy
Tags: Guides
Slug: 04-encryption-101-pgp-on-windows
Status: published
After writing about the
[Mac](http://www.spacekookie.de/02-encryption-101-pgp-on-mac/ "02. Encryption 101: PGP on Mac")
and
[iOS](http://www.spacekookie.de/03-encryption-101-pgp-on-ios/ "03. Encryption 101: PGP on iOS")
versions of PGP Mail encryption I want to explain the whole ordeal for
Windows computers now. As for the Mac version the tutorial will be split
in two parts. The first about setting up a Mail client (Thunderbird in
our case) to download emails from your hoster and the second about
actually encrypting emails. If you have done this already you can skip
[AHEAD](#encrypting)! Let's get started.
**Setting up Thunderbird** {style="text-align: justify;"}
--------------------------
Windows doesn't come installed with a very good mail software and so
it's recommended to use a third party application. Mozilla is doing a
really good job with their projects and Thunderbird is one of the better
mail programs out there. You can download the latest version of
Thunderbird here:
[www.mozilla.org/thunderbird](http://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/).[
](www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/)Once downloaded, install the application
onto your main hard drive and open it afterwards.
[](http://www.spacekookie.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/winpgp1.png)Confirm
to use Thunderbird as your standard mail application. Dismiss the setup
helper thing. Then go to the account settings as displayed in the
screenshot above. On the upcoming window click the "Account Actions" in
the bottom left corner and then select "New Mail Account". In the
upcoming window you should then insert your Mail account settings as
shown in the picture below.
[](http://www.spacekookie.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/winpgp3.png)
Confirm with Continue and in the upcoming screen select "IMAP", not
"POP". If you're using a mainstream hosting service this should be
trivial. If you're using a smaller one you might have to read their FAQ
for server information.
After the setup is done be sure to fetch your email once to check if the
settings are really working. Now we're ready to set you up with GPG
which is a software suite to encrypt emails.
<a name="encrypting"></a>
**Encrypting E-Mails
** {style="text-align: justify;"}
---------------------
First up you need to go and download the Enigmail software suite. You
can do so here: <https://www.enigmail.net/download/>.Be sure to select
the right version of Thunderbird. Also note that the 32bit Version of
Enigmail works fine on 64bit Windows machines.
Download the file and save it on your Desktop. It's not something you
can run directly. To install it go back to Thunderbird and navigate to
your Add-Ons tab.
[](http://www.spacekookie.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/winpgp4.png)Then
select "Extensions" in the tab and drag&drop the downloaded file into
it. There will be a window popping up prompting you to confirm the
installation.
[](http://www.spacekookie.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/winpgp5.png)
After the installation is complete you need to restart your Thunderbird.
When you open it again there will be a friendly Setup Wizard waiting for
you. Give it a hug and move on by choosing the "easy" (top) option.
[](http://www.spacekookie.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/winpgp6.png)It
will tell you in the first step that you need to install GNU PG which
stands for "GNU Privacy Guard". If you read my Mac tutorial you will be
familiar with that application and know that it's pretty cool and won't
eat your computer. Agree to the installation and follow the instructions
as followed (Not much to do wrong).
After that is done it should look a bit like this.
[](http://www.spacekookie.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/winpgp7.png)Continue
by clicking Next.
Next up the Wizard will ask you if you already have a key or need to
creat one. If this is your first device you want to use PGP with you
need to create a key pair and I will roughly explain what they are for.
PGP works with two set of keys: public ones and private ones. If you
want to send somebody an encrypted message, all you need for that is
their public key. That key will be downloadable on a keyserver and can
be sent around as attachments on emails. The email will be secure and
only readable by somebody with the corresponding private key (which
should only be the owner ;) ). So to summarize: Public key to lock,
private key to unlock. You will collect the public keys of many people
but only have one private key that you should **NEVER (!!!)** send
somewhere over the internet. Use encrypted spaces and preferibly USB
drives to transport it to different computers!
So again: If you already have a pair of keys from one of my previous
tutorials select the green option to import it. If you need to create a
new one, select the red option.
[](http://www.spacekookie.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/winpgp8.png)I
will be focusing on creating one now. At the end of the tutorial I will
add some things about exporting and importing as well. ([Click
here!](#key-management))
Next up you will have to choose a passphrase for your key. It should be
at least 10 characters long (the longer the better, really. Mine is 30
bits long, randomly generated). Also be sure to move the mouse as much
as possible during the generation. It gatheres so called "Entropy" to
randomize the key as much as possible (Computer randomizer aren't very
random).
You should answer the following questions accordingly:
1. Don't sign every email. It will just confuse people that have no
idea what's going on
2. Don't attach your public key to every message you send for the same
reason as 1.
3. Let Enigmail change some of Thunderbirds settings to run more
smooth.
And congratulations. You're done! :)
There are of course still a few things to be learned but this is it in
general. You are now able to send and recieve encrypted emails. But
let's check out a few more things.
[](http://www.spacekookie.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/winpgp9.png)Under
"Sender's Key" you could edit your own key and see details about it. But
more importantly is the "Key Management" as you will be able to see,
import and export your key from there as well. Why don't you send me an
email as a test?
First go into the Key Management, then click on "Keyserver" and "Search
for Key". Type in my email adress (sabel.katharina@gmail.com) and search
on the server pgp.mit.edu (not sure why it's not initially part of the
list). Because I kinda fucked up my keys a few months ago there are
multiple on the server. Select the latest one (From Juli-August 2013,
not sure what date exactly!)
Now you'll be able to send me a message. Compose a new message in
Thunderbird, type in my address and write a message. In the bottom right
you can choose if you want to sign the message (the pen) and/ or if you
want to encrypt it (the key). Note that the subject of a message won't
be encrypted, only the body and attachments! And also note that
encrypting several gigabytes of data in a message WILL take a long time
;)
And that's it! You're not communicating without anyone else knowing what
you're talking about, except the person you're contacting of course.
Even if you have nothing to hide (I know I don't), do it just to piss
off the NSA. Because this is what they'll see:
``` {.lang:default .decode:true}
-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Charset: ISO-8859-1
Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (MingW32)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/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=crxN
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----
```
One last thing about this: Because the encryption is done on your
computer (Inside Thunderbird) nobody else can see what the original
content is unless you view it in Thunderbird. But that also means that
if you log into your email account in your Browser you will see the
Jibberish as well. Be warned!
<a name="key-management"></a>
**Importing and Exporting Keys** {style="text-align: justify;"}
--------------------------------
Last but not least I want to show you how to import and export keys. Say
you want to use PGP on your iPhone? Good, I have an awesome tutorial for
that here ;)
But you'll need to export your key. The same goes if you are using PGP
on a different computer already and just want to import your existing
key to this computer.
Under the "Key Manager" I showed you before click on "File" and "Import
Keys from File". Then navigate to the directory where your key is stored
and make sure it's in an ASCII armour file (.ASC)
If you want to export a key that is equally simple. Select your key in
the list (If you don't see it check the option "Display All Keys by
Default", right click on it and then Choose "Export Keys to File".
This will save your Key as an .ASC file to be imported by other PGP
applications such as GPGMac or iGPMail on iOS.
I hope you learned something today and I also hope that you'll go spread
the usage of email encryption around your friends. If you have
questions, sugestions, whatever, leave them in the comments below.
And until next time, have a lovely day.
\~Kate
|
