encryption – keep it safe

Encryption you can use

What is encryption?

You don’t have to be paranoid to want to secure your digital communications.  But being a little bit leery of the internet isn’t a bad thing either.   Encryption is like putting a lock on a trunk that contains important items.  Sure, someone can break in but they will have to work hard to do it.  When you encrypt a document, e-mail or a computer hard drive you are making it hard, not impossible, for someone to retrieve that information.  Unfortunately, putting a encryption system together can be daunting to the inexperienced. The following paragraphs will explain what is available to encrypt your information and how to use it (I have been given no sponsorship for any of this – this is only what I have found and used over the years, and I don’t guarantee this will 100% safeguard your info – hackers get better everyday). So, on with the show.

How Does Encryption Work?

Let’s continue with the trunk analogy ( note: One thing to remember is that you have two keys – a private and a public key).    The encryption starts with the exchanging of trunks – each person has their own delivery trunk. On the trunk there are two locks and either lock can open the trunk.  When you send your first message, you send your trunk and one key – your public key; and your messaging partner sends their public key with their own trunk. You both keep your private keys to yourselves.  When you send your message again, you now use your partner’s public key to lock their trunk, upon receiving the trunk, your partner opens it using their private key.  This is how I understand encryption . I am sure the engineers can find many errors with my analogy – this is a rudimentary explanation. 

Services that you use

Many communication applications use this type of encryption – WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram are the most recognized of these applications.  All the magic explained in the previous paragraph starts when you hit the enter button.   Thankfully, it also happens in milliseconds if not faster (is there a faster second?).  GMAIL, Hotmail, and other free, commercial e-mail services use a type of this encryption but since their services are free, they are able to access your information for advertising purposes.  I don’t know the technical aspect of their set-up, but I know they use my email for marketing.

Alternatives

There are alternatives to utilize that put you in control of your encryption.   These services or applications or generally not free but offer you more security for your information.   If you want to know how to actually configure these, visit their website  or feel free to e-mail me and I will explain it the best I can (again, not an expert in this field).

Proton Mail – a free (with limited space) that encrypts email from end-to-end.  You maintain your own private keys which are encrypted with your password.  This means that your emails are locked in the trunk on their servers.  They can not access the contents of the e-mails (I have read that the subject line remains unencrypted)

Tutanota – similar to Proton Mail with some differences.  One that I read about is that they encrypt the subject line. They do other fancy stuff but they also are unable to access any e-mails.

Open PGP – not an e-mail provider per se, but by using Open PGP you can encrypt e-mail on your own computer using an e-mail client (ex. Thunderbird ).  You can also encrypt individual files using the generated keys.   You need a bit more technical know-how but once you start to play with it, encryption is more interesting.  This is like driving a manual vs. an automatic car.

Veracrypt – a utility to encrypt folders, computers and even removable USB drive.  This is a must if you carry important documents around on a USB (really anywhere) drive.  

KeePass – a password keeper.  The simple program maintains a database of your password and encrypts the contents.  I keep it on my phone  and not in the ‘cloud’ , just in case hackers can break the code.   I have read some people do keep the database in the cloud (Google Drive, One Driver, etc) but that will depend upon your comfort level.

Open Keychain – for mobile phones. This is similar to Open PGP (see above) in that you can create, import, export, encrypt and decrypt files and email. Read everything before you use it so that you don’t accidentally encrypt a file and find yourself unable to decrypt it. 

K-9 Mail – works with Open Keychain to enable you to send encrypted emails.

En Fin

That is about it.  Again, no guarantee about the effectiveness of any of the aforementioned programs/utilities, I just wanted to share information about what is available to every day people.  I have read different blogs, articles and webpages regarding these so maybe I have blind faith in what these can do.   DO YOUR RESEARCH and make sure you understand how the program operates (not necessary the complexities) before using it because it is easy to lose data if you are not careful.  HAPPY ENCRYPTING!

  

UPDATE 3/2/2023: Google is rolling out client side encryption which means emails will be encrypted on a user’s machine rather than on Google’s servers. This isn’t available to personal users yet but it appears it will be in the future.