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Add pgp/gpg encryption to gmail

This article will show you how to get started with gpg encryption and how to use it with gmail.


Installing gpg and generating a set of keys
First, lets install some necessary packages

sudo aptitude install gnupg gnupg-agent xsel

Now, generate your public and private keys with the following command

gpg --gen-key

Fill in your name, email address and a comment when required. It is a good idea to keep these accurate as people will use these when looking for your public key online. Finally, copy your public key it to the clipboard

gpg --export -a username | xsel --clipboard

where you replace username with your actual username. Now point your browser to MIT’s public key server. Click the mouse in the Submit a key field, and press CRTL-v to paste the public key. Finally, press the Submit this key to the keyserver!-button. Now, all your friends can find your public without any trouble.

Installing FireGPG
Launch Firefox and click this link to install FireGPG. You might have to restart firefox for the changes to take effect

Adding your friends to FireGPG’s address book
Suppose you have a friend by the name of John Doe and you wish to send him an encrypted message. To do this, you must first get his public key such that you can encode a message that only he can unencode with his private key. Once again, point your browser to MIT’s public key server. This time, type in the name John Doe in the Search String:-field and press Search to find any public keys matching this name. As you will no doubt find out, a great number of persons go by the name of John Doe so to identify your friend the comment (eg. his website’s address) will come in handy. Once you have found the John Doe you were looking for, click the KeyID link. This will take you to a page showing his public key probably looking similar to mine, shown below. Once the key is displayed, highlight it and select FireGPG->Import. You have now added John Doe to your FireGPG’s address book.

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: PGP Key Server 0.9.6
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=FPVk
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Using FireGPG to send encrypt emails
Point you browser to gmail.com and log into your account as usual. When you compose a new email, you will see some changes to the user interface, as shown in the figure below.


When sending emails you should choose the highlighted option sign, encrypt and send. One you click this button you will be presented with two dialogs. In the first dialog, select the person from the list you wish to send the encrypted message to. In the second dialog, select you own key.

Using FireGPG to decrypt emails
Suppose, that you have recieved an email from your friend John Doe with text somewhat similar to that shown below. To decrypt the message, simply highlight the text, right click and select FireGPG->Decrypt. Once you have entered your password, the decrypted message will appear in a separate window.

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: http://getfiregpg.org
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=LK0U
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----

Further reading
FireGPG’s website
GnuPG’s website

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