Skip to main content

Evolution And GPG













I sent a GPG encrypted message with attachment (also encrypted beforehand) to myself. This is it using Evolution Mail client. You need to know that Evolution Mail makes encryption in email much less cumbersome.

First Things First
In order to use GPG (the open source implementation of Pretty Good Privacy PGP) generate your key-pair. Your public key is uploaded to a public server accessible to the public and can be downloaded by anyone interested to send you an encrypted message. Your private key is stored locally, encrypted and secured by a passphrase. Your passphrase should be good enough to protect from attackers trying to break the encryption.

I use Seahorse to manage my passwords and keys. It's a GUI for the GPG program. Nevertheless, I still use the Terminal to encrypt files that I wish to attach to the email message.

How To Encrypt Files
There are many programs that you can use to encrypt files or an entire directory (or even an entire partition). I am just documenting how I do it if i want to attach it to an email message. Just open a terminal and change directory to the file to be encrypted.

$ cd /home/name/Document/anyfolder

$ gpg -h                                                                         #if you want help with the text commands
$ gpg --encrypt Doc.name --recipient          #you must have the recipient's public key to encrypt
                                                                                          #the file

A new file is created in .gpg format. Look for this file when you are ready to attach it in your email message.

In Evolution Mail, to compose a message just type: CNTRL+SHIFT+M. The add attachment button is at the bottom of the compose window. To sign and encrypt the message click on menu options>PGP Sign  and  options>PGP Encrypt. I have mine configured to sign all my outgoing mail. You can edit preferences by going to the menu edit>preferences. Click the General tab and tick on Digitally sign with PGP. Digitally signing your emails means you protect its integrity. If the message is intercepted and modified it will be flagged as such.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

ZFS Unable to System Snapshot, bpool is Full?

I first encountered the problem after a routine update / upgrade of the system. Well there was a kernel upgrade and I have not checked how many old kernels are still left for backups in /boot. Apparently, there was a few and the partition is 85% full. Every software update included a warning because of the restriction in disk space. Also, zfs could not create snapshots. It is also full. This is not very clear to me. Snapshots were suppose to be diff copies so why would it take up a large space. Most of the snapshots are less than 2MB. Or 0MB. Another problem that popped up is the constant freezing of Rhythmbox. I don't know if the config files are corrupted. The CPU cycles from one to the next. Peaks for 5-6 seconds then on to the next CPU. This forced me to download Clementine and Audacious. But both applications do not find the zfs pool or don't show the zfs structure. Why not? My final solution is to reinstall Rhythmbox via snaps. I re-scanned the music libr

Renter's ID and Business Licensing 2023

Last year's business permit application involved an undertaking of submitting lessee list to the Barangay in order to get them ID's including one for the lessor himself. I received a letter of notification just before New Year's Day. It informed me that I might be denied renewal of permits because I did not comply with this undertaking. So the Renter's ID is a serious thing now. When I went ahead and applied for a business permit renewal at the local government office everything went well except they want my list of lessee. So I had to backtrack and go to the Barangay and submit the list. They produced the ID's and I provided the photo ID's and of course have it signed by the lessee. After that, they pointed me to the cashier to pay the taxes and permit fees which totaled php15,305.00 ($280.33) During the payment of Fire and Safety department, they reminded me to bring my fire extinguisher official receipts of payment. I can pick up my new pe

How To Verify iso Image After Download In Linux

I assume that you have downloaded the image / iso file in a folder. Navigate to the folder where the iso is. You have to get the public gpg key for fedora downloads. [ donato@archdesktop Downloads]$ ls builds  debian-live--9.0.0-amd64-gnome  Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-25  Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26 [ donato@archdesktop Downloads]$ cd Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26 [ donato@archdesktop Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26]$ ls Fedora-Workstation-26-1.5-x86_64-CHECKSUM  Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26-1.5.iso [ donato@archdesktop Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26]$ gpg --verify Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26-1.5.iso gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found. gpg: the signature could not be verified. Please remember that the signature file (.sig or .asc) should be the first file given on the command line. [ donato@archdesktop Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26]$ ls Fedora-Workstation-26-1.5-x86_64-CHECKSUM  Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-26-1.5.iso