Email encryption programs

[advancebooking]

Can any techie minded members explain to me what email encryption programs are? I have apple mac laptop and only use gmail at the moment. I was looking at gpgtools <dot> org:

Another one is https://www.enigmail.net/home/index.php which states:

''Enigmail is a security extension to Mozilla Thunderbird and Seamonkey. It enables you to write and receive email messages signed and/or encrypted with the OpenPGP standard.

Sending and receiving encrypted and digitally signed email is simple using Enigmail.

When starting it for the first time, you are guided through the basic setup. We also prepared a new users' guide that explains how to use OpenPGP''

https://gpgtools.org/

This is what they are selling:

• GPG for Mail

  is an open source plugin for Apple Mail. Encrypt, decrypt, sign and verify mails using OpenPGP with a few simple clicks.

• GPG Keychain

  is an open source application for Mac OS X. It allows you to manage your OpenPGP keys. Create and modify your keys and import the keys of your friends from a key server.

• GPG Services

  is a plugin that brings GPG power to almost any application.
  It allows you to encrypt/decrypt, sign/verify and import keys from text selections, files, folders and much more.

• MacGPG

  is the underlying power engine of our GPG Suite. If you're familiar with the command line use the raw power of it.
  Based on gnupg 2.0.26.

____________________________________________

Another one is https://www.enigmail.net/home/index.php which states:

''Enigmail is a security extension to Mozilla Thunderbird and Seamonkey. It enables you to write and receive email messages signed and/or encrypted with the OpenPGP standard.

Sending and receiving encrypted and digitally signed email is simple using Enigmail.

When starting it for the first time, you are guided through the basic setup. We also prepared a new users' guide that explains how to use OpenPGP''

Another free one is

http://www.gpg4win.org/

In what circumstances would one want to use this extra security? Thanks for your opinions

[rabid old goat]

simpler to use and understand is bcrypt. just write in a text file, save it then encrypt the file with bcrypt. then send it as an email attachment to some who you have previously told the code/password to.

Edited February 6, 2015 by rabid old goat

[IMHO]

In what circumstances would one want to use this extra security? Thanks for your opinions

Well for one, anyone using GMail that doesn't want them reading their comms and using the data gleaned for ad re-targeting

[WhizBang]

Anyone that wants their email communications to actually be PRIVATE.

[rabid old goat]

Anyone that wants their email communications to actually be PRIVATE.

rephrase that : Anyone who wants to dream that their email communications are actually PRIVATE.

[IMHO]

Anyone that wants their email communications to actually be PRIVATE.

rephrase that : Anyone who wants to dream that their email communications are actually PRIVATE.

Yeah, few people understand that even if they use TLS in their email client, and HTTPS for webmail, most email servers still communicate with each other over unsecured SMTP on port 25.

That said, over the past couple of years we have seen a trend towards more inbound mail coming in using TLS, but it's still maybe only 20% of what we receive. Outbound, we always attempt TLS first (talking server level here), and the success rate is around 60%.

Edited February 6, 2015 by IMHO

[astral]

Enigmail, installed Thunderbird works fine for me

[advancebooking]

Anyone that wants their email communications to actually be PRIVATE.

rephrase that : Anyone who wants to dream that their email communications are actually PRIVATE.

Yeah, few people understand that even if they use TLS in their email client, and HTTPS for webmail, most email servers still communicate with each other over unsecured SMTP on port 25.

That said, over the past couple of years we have seen a trend towards more inbound mail coming in using TLS, but it's still maybe only 20% of what we receive. Outbound, we always attempt TLS first (talking server level here), and the success rate is around 60%.

can you explain this in non techie English? thanks

[WhizBang]

Anyone that wants their email communications to actually be PRIVATE.

rephrase that : Anyone who wants to dream that their email communications are actually PRIVATE.

No need to rephrase it. Good encryption is virtually unbreakable.

[ksamuiguy]

www.protonmail.ch

[IMHO]

Anyone that wants their email communications to actually be PRIVATE.

rephrase that : Anyone who wants to dream that their email communications are actually PRIVATE.

Yeah, few people understand that even if they use TLS in their email client, and HTTPS for webmail, most email servers still communicate with each other over unsecured SMTP on port 25.

That said, over the past couple of years we have seen a trend towards more inbound mail coming in using TLS, but it's still maybe only 20% of what we receive. Outbound, we always attempt TLS first (talking server level here), and the success rate is around 60%.

can you explain this in non techie English? thanks

OK, I'll try

Here's the flow when you send an email:

Your PC/Phone -----( a )----> Your email server -----( b )----> Recipient's email server -----( c )----> Recipient's PC/Phone

Each of the "---------->" represents a transport over the internet, which can be encrypted (or not).

The leg marked (a) can be sent using:

* Unencrypted SMTP

* Encrypted SMTP using TLS

* Encrypted SMTP using SSL (no longer secure - SSL technology has been compromised)

* Unencrypted HTTP Webmail

* Encrypted HTTPS Webmail using TLS

* Encrypted HTTPS Webmail using SSL (no longer secure - SSL technology has been compromised)

The leg marked ( b ) is sent using either:

* Unencrypted SMTP

* Encrypted SMTP using TLS

* Encrypted SMTP using SSL (no longer secure - SSL technology has been compromised)

The leg marked ( c ) sent using either:

* Unencrypted IMAP

* Encrypted IMAP using TLS

* Encrypted IMAP using SSL (no longer secure - SSL technology has been compromised)

* Unencrypted POP3

* Encrypted POP3 using TLS

* Encrypted POP3 using SSL (no longer secure - SSL technology has been compromised)

* Unencrypted HTTP Webmail

* Encrypted HTTPS Webmail using TLS

* Encrypted HTTPS Webmail using SSL (no longer secure - SSL technology has been compromised)

What I'm saying is, that middle transport leg, which happens between your email server and the recipients email server, is more often than not, unsecured.

As the "Recipient's email server" we see only around 20% of incoming emails being properly encrypted (using SMTP/TLS).

As the "Your Email server" we attempt to send all emails using SMTP/TLS, but only around 60% of the "Recipient's email servers" we contact are able to receive encrypted email - for the other 40% we have no choice but to fall-back to unencrypted SMTP in order to deliver the message.

Note: These percentages come from our corporate email servers - not a publicly available email service. Most mail we receive is from typical consumer email services though.

Now, what you're talking about in your OP is slightly different - what that refers to is scrambling (encrypting) the actual email message contents, which in theory means it doesn't matter whether all the connections above are encrypted or not. I say in theory because so many encryption technologies have already been compromised, and at best, they are only as good as the password anyway......

Also, don't forget that there's always someone at "Your Email Server" and "Recipient's Email Server" who has access to read any and all emails going in and out too (the admin/postmaster).

In short, rabid old goat is right - don't expect any email message to remain private.

Edited February 6, 2015 by IMHO