Encryption programs questions

Hi,

I would like to encrypt certain "sensitive" files on my HD and also send encrypted emails to friends using PGP on Winboxes and Macs.

I've read quite a few articles and it seems like GnuPG - 1.4.8 and Gpg Tools - 1.2.1 are highly recommended.

Feedback or other recommendations anyone?
Gene

iMac (Intel), OS-X 10.5.1

This is a partial answer at best, but for encrypting files on your Mac, the simplest solution may be to create an encrypted virtual volume (.dmg file) and store you sensitive information there. This is what I do and it works well.

Apple has provided a complete "how to" for the very simple set up of an encrypted volume file. See:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107333

This does not address the sending of encrypted emails of course. I will leave that to more knowledgeable folks to comment on.

Thanks for the info on Disk Utilities.

I searched and came across something interesting:

http://www.freenigma.com/index.html

Which is an "on-the fly" encryption service using GnuPG and FireFox extension to encrypt email on Gmail, Hotmail, etc..

Cheers,
Gene

BTW: According to the responses I got, doesn't seem to be many GnuPG users out there.

Afterthought...

Phil Zimmermann "invented" PGP quite a few years ago and GnuPG will be celebrating their 11th anniversary soon. I wonder why in this age of "User Friendly, ready to run out of the box" software, there are still programs that demand quite a bit of technical expertise to install and run (command line or third-party interfaces to fill in the gap) and are still problematic to use. When are those people are going to come out of the "dark ages"?

I posted my original question on 4 forums to get as much feedback as possible from GnuPG users but to no avail. I assume that it isn't a very popular program.

Gene

Indeed, I used PGP years ago and found that convincing other people to have the client was difficult - why bother they used to say. What is the point of encrypting email if the recipient is not willing to decrypt?

PGP is no longer under PZ - it is now commercial although there is still a free version available.

I think that authorities etc do not want people encrypting mail, that would make their job very hard. I used to send encrypted emails to friends with messages for the guys in Project Echelon, well their job must be boring, cracking encrypted emails.

riscy said:

I think that authorities etc do not want people encrypting mail, that would make their job very hard. I used to send encrypted emails to friends with messages for the guys in Project Echelon, well their job must be boring, cracking encrypted emails.

Click to expand...

I've installed GnuPG and experimenting with it (a few tools for it but I find myself using the command line a lot).

Trying to get a Net Privacy forum going (under construction), if ever you want to look at it, click here.

Cheers,
Gene

Looks good Gene, I will sign up for sure!

You might want to have a look at this excellent site I have used for years: this guy is so into PGP!! He is a bit of a guru, IMO. Might be worth mentioning your forum to him.

riscy said:

Looks good Gene, I will sign up for sure!

You might want to have a look at this excellent site I have used for years: this guy is so into PGP!! He is a bit of a guru, IMO. Might be worth mentioning your forum to him.

Click to expand...

Saw you did, thanks and I sure hope you can help me fill in the blanks.

Bookmarked the link, the guy is a heck of a guru, wow!

Cheers,
Gene