Here’s How To Encrypt Your Email – in Outlook, Gmail, and other Popular Email Services.

Data privacy has become extremely important to businesses, and some companies take drastic measures to protect their information, files, and communications.

However many small companies still think that additional security measures are not necessary. This is a misconception. Those who ignore additional security measures can face serious risks, such as data theft.

For example, imagine that you included sensitive information in an email, which may seem trivial. Still, later it turns out that a malicious person intercepted the message, accessed its contents, and used it for malicious purposes.

You want to avoid such situations. Although it requires a little extra effort, it is better to be safe than sorry.

So, what is the solution? How to Encrypt Any email, especially when it contains sensitive information.

What is Email Encryption?

By encrypting emails, only the intended recipient can read them. It uses encryption key pairs to secure the message.

As a response to your message, the recipient generates a GPG key pair (which includes a public and a private key) and shares the public key with you.

• You add the public key to your keyring.
• The newly added public key is sent to the recipient’s email address.

The recipient opens the email and can read it using their private key, which corresponds to the public key you used.

If the email is intercepted during transit, it remains unreadable without the corresponding private key. This highlights an essential rule: never share your private key with anyone under any circumstances.

While adding encryption to your email does involve a few extra steps, the added security is well worth the effort when handling sensitive information.

Because each email client handles this differently, I will demonstrate the process using the open-source Thunderbird application. I’ll also show you how to create your GPG key using GnuPG, enabling you to guide your recipients in generating the necessary key pairs and sharing their public keys with you.

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How To Encrypt Your Email

1. Generate a key pair

I’ll be demonstrating on Pop!_The process will be the same on any platform that supports GnuPG, including Linux and macOS.

For Windows OS, you’ll need to use Gpg4win to handle the GPG encryption process.

To generate a key pair, open a terminal window and enter the following command:

GPG –full-generate-key

• What key size do you want?
• The key is valid for?

Confirm that the key has been created by typing y. You’ll then need to provide:

1. A real name associated with the key.
2. An email address linked to the key.
3. An optional comment (this can be left blank).

The key will then be secured by entering and verifying a passphrase. The key pair will be created and ready to be exported once it is completed.

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2. Export the public key

Using the following command, you can export the public key so that it can be sent to the person encrypting your emails:

GPG –export -a “EMAIL” > public_key

In the “EMAIL” field, replace the email address associated with your new key.

If the public_key file is generated, send it to the person who will encrypt their email for you.

3. Importing a public key

To import the public key sent to you in Thunderbird, follow these steps:

1. Open Thunderbird.
2. At the top-right corner, select the Menu button (three horizontal lines).
3. Click Account Settings from the menu.

In the left sidebar of Thunderbird, follow these steps:

1. Click End-To-End Encryption.
2. Then, click OpenPGP Key Manager.

Public keys can be imported and managed in this way.

4. Select All Files

The steps to import a public key into Thunderbird are as follows:

1. Click File in the top-left corner of the OpenPGP Key Manager window.
2. Select Import Public Key From File.
3. In the file selection window, make sure to choose All Files from the drop-down menu at the bottom right corner.
4. Locate and select the public key file you received, then click Open.

The public key will now be imported and ready to use.

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5. Locate the key

To complete the key import process, follow these steps:

1. In the file selection window, locate the public key file you saved (the one from the recipient who will receive your email).
2. Click Open.
3. Select Accepted (unverified) and click OK.
4. The public key will now be imported and ready to encrypt emails.

6. Exit the Key Manager and compose a new message

After importing the public key, follow these steps:

1. Return to the main Thunderbird window after closing the Key Manager.
2. Create a new email message and send it to the encryption key’s email address.
3. Click the Security menu in the email compose window.
4. Be sure to check the boxes for Encrypt this message and Sign it digitally.

These options will ensure that the email is encrypted and digitally signed before sending.

Once you’ve selected the encryption and digital signature options:

1. Send the message as usual.
2. It will be encrypted, and only the person who owns the private key matching the public key you imported will be able to decrypt it and read the content.
3. And that’s how email encryption works! I hope you find this process easier than expected and that it encourages you to start using this additional layer of security in your email communications.

How do secure and encrypted emails differ?

That’s right! Secure email ensures that the entire connection used to send and receive emails is secure, meaning that no one can intercept or modify the email while it’s in transit. Encrypted email, on the other hand, is when the content of the email is encrypted. This way, even if someone intercepts the email in transit, they can’t read the content unless they have the decryption key, ensuring that only the intended recipient can access the message.

Can you encrypt email for free?

With tools like OpenPGP and Gpg4win, you can encrypt your emails for free using local email clients like Thunderbird and Outlook. These tools make it simple to secure your messages, ensuring they are sent safely and can only be read by the intended recipient.