Encrypting Email with KMail, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Evolution
LOCK AND KEY
The leading email applications include new features for helping users secure and authenticate their mail messages, but each tool has a different approach to handling tasks such as signing and encryption. This article describes how to add encryption and digital signatures to the Thunderbird, Kmail, and Evolution mail clients.
Spoofers have an easier time on the Internet than anywhere else. There’s no need to forge a signature to dispatch mail under someone else’s name; all you need is a spoofed entry in the From header. The mail protocol does not provide any kind of protection against this kind of manipulation. If you want the people you write to to be able to rely on the authenticity of your messages, you should get into the habit of signing your email messages. The same thing applies to encryption: or would you really want a curious mail server admin reading your letters? Anyone with access to one of the computers that relays mail between your outbox and the destination could theoretically read your messages. GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) [1] is a program that protects your messages against monitoring and manipulation. GnuPG is a cryptographic system that uses asymmetric keys. For the user, this means having two keys, a private key and a public key, which are generated as a key pair. The passwordprotected private key is kept secret.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
There's a New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle is a Linux AI assistant that can work with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.