Encrypting E-mail with GnuPG, Thunderbird and Enigmail

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On Monday, 2 December 2013 I'm giving a presentation at KWLUG on Encrypting E-mail with GnuPG, Thunderbird and Enigmail which will be followed by a Formal Keysigning.

I'm using this page to develop my presentation notes. If you have comments, criticisms, or suggestions please put them on the Talk page.

--Bob.

I've started to convert this page to presentation slides BobJonkman 19:52, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Intro to Crypto

Why use Encrypted E-mail?

  • Security
    • Your mail cannot be read by a Man In The Middle (MITM)
  • Authenticity (Integrity)
    • Signed mail cannot be modified in transit, accidentally by mis-configured servers, or maliciously by MITM
  • Non-repudiability
    • Signed mail can only come from the sender

Why NOT use Encrypted E-mail?

Rubber Hose Cryptography (using a $5 wrench). XKCD
  • Need the other party to use the same encryption
  • Locked-in format
    • Lose your secret key, lose your mail
    • Need to keep revoked keys to read old mail
    • If your key is compromised, all your old mail is compromised (no forward secrecy)
  • Non-repudiability
    • Politicians? CEOs?
  • Rubber Hose Cryptography (or $5 Wrench Cryptography)
  • It's hard!
    • and looks geeky...
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 18:27:22 -0500
From: Crypto Guy <cryptoguy@sobac.com>
Subject: Hello!

Hello World!
vs. 
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 18:27:22 -0500
From: Crypto Guy <cryptoguy@sobac.com>
Subject: Hello!

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hello World!


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.14 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJSk9zaAAoJENrSxFs55fZVAAgIAK2BKzV/qUTXCu0gEWJq2U3z
mZ6nsfzjs8aXJe8CT/c7kr7HSgSV57kvukIbvcUP5sCGwpIfwK04qA0Af4J9jXp7
Wq1/k0wjA1WzhCWUEEjdBs/05bAbQ78ulTbhFlII2ywLgH6BYxgjceZa9abgF8Di
xHkRWEAI6q+scoEhi0rCGlCX3UX/pkiZ1GlaxxxMBu1J5DbFaAJZ1MiPUDOLQN9w
5LzIqi4rKTtnCQo6G3WWRg5HvPMHHmUJoaZfZpnPrszf4ttG0vrFLxJKUqZszDyr
V5Lx/IjKAZBwoRRjfpRZILFHWoveaw5MG8487jM76W7LiVTEsX2AFGI3R6uy+KA=
=0p58
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Crypto Theory

Symmetric Key Encryption

  • Substitution cipher, Caesar cipher
    • Key = -1
      • Encrypt: IBM -1> HAL
      • Decrypt: Khmtw Trdq Fqnto +1> Linux User Group
    • Key = 13 (ROT13)
      • Encrypt: Linux User Group +13> Yvahk Hfre Tebhc
      • Decrypt: Yvahk Hfre Tebhc +13> Linux User Group
  • Need a secure way to share key

Public/Private Key Encryption

The Math
  • Based on One-way function: Easy to do, hard to reverse
    • 59 x 61 = ????
      • 59 x 61 = 3599
    • 3551 = ?? x ??
      • 3551 = 53 x 67
The Practice
A Key Pair
  • Generate a keypair
    • Add e-mail and identity information as you see fit
    • Public Key, Private (Secret) Key
    • Anything encrypted by one key is decrypted by the other
      • Encrypt: Hello World +P> |-|3110 '//0|21|)
      • Decrypt: |-|3110 '//0|21|) +S> Hello World
      • Encrypt: Linux Is Cool +S> 1!/\/|_|>< !5 (001
      • Decrypt: 1!/\/|_|>< !5 (001 +P> Linux Is Cool
    • Keep your Secret Key secret!
    • But you can distribute your Public Key widely
      • Upload your Public Key to keyservers
      • Send your Public Key by e-mail
  • Use a Public Key to encrypt a message
    • Only that person's Secret Key can decrypt it
    • You can only encrypt a message to someone whose Public Key you have
  • Use your Secret Key to sign (encrypt) a message
    • Anyone can use your Public Key to verify (decrypt) the signature, which only you could have created
    • You can sign messages for everyone!
      • But only people who have your Public Key can verify the signature
      • Shows others that encryption is not such a weird thing
  • If I download your Public Key, how do I know it's really yours?
    • Keysigning!
      • You tell me what your Key Fingerprint is.
      • I verify that's the same Key Fingerprint on the Public Key I download
      • If I believe that's your Public Key, I sign it.
    • Web of Trust
      • Your Public Key has been signed by others
      • I already trust their Public Keys, some of that trust transfers to your Public Key

Demonstration

Install Enigmail

Use Wizard

Generate keypair

If your Key Fingerprint is 04F7 742B 8F54 C40A E115 26C2 B912 89B0 D2CC E5EA

  • Then your Long KeyID is 0xB91289B0D2CCE5EA
  • And your Short KeyID is 0xD2CCE5EA
  • Short KeyID is unique to about 1 in 10 billion (2^32)
  • Long KeyID is unique to about in 10^20 (2^64)
  • Key Fingerprint is unique to about 10^48 (2^160)
  • Number of atoms in the universe is about 10^80

Configure Enigmail

Generally, use the defaults.

  • I chose DSA for my key because of patent restrictions in 1999
  • Use PGP/MIME to hide signature blocks
    • But displaying signature blocks may encourage others to use encryption
    • Some mailing lists may remove PGP/MIME signature attachments

Retrieve a Public Key

  • E-mail address is convenient, but may return multiple keys
  • KeyID search will return one key. Prefix KeyIDs with "0x"

Sending a Message

Receiving a Message

How to use PGP to verify an e-mail is authentic

XKCD-pgp-1181.png

Fortunately, Enigmail checks a little more thoroughly

Keysigning with Enigmail

Resources

IRC: irc://irc.freenode.net/kwlug
  • Bob Jonkman
E-mail: mailto:bjonkman@sobac.com
Microblog: @bobjonkman@sn.jonkman.ca or http://sn.jonkman.ca/bobjonkman
XMPP: xmpp:bjonkman@sobac.com
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