Communications over the Internet have become one of the most important factors for most of companies and independent individualsand it is that through them you can share a large amount of private and personal information and data that cannot be within the reach of unauthorized third parties.
Considering all the risks that they carry, especially those carried out through the has been created software capable of helping to improve the privacy and security of each of these conversations through encryption as it is the PGP or also known as Pretty Good Privacy.
That is how enigmail has become a necessary tool for what is PGP executionin other words, enigmail is in charge of all this encryption and data protection process works properly. This is how we are going to teach you a little more about this tool, what it is for and how you can install it in Mozilla Thunderbird.
What is Enigmail and what is this tool for?
It should be mentioned that enigmail is an extension that is available for the browser of Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird for those versions that work under Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems. It is important to clarify that this is not a crypto engine by itself, but takes care of using GNU Privacy Guard or also known as GPG or GnuPG to bring about the cryptographic encryption process.
In this way, this extension is used in order to facilitate the work of encryption or digital signature from the command line and then manually copy them to the Email. In the same way, Enigmail is in charge of ensuring that the entire process of encryption and generation of public and private keys can work correctly.Therefore, your participation in this process is very important.
What are the benefits of protecting my email with Enigmail?
Considering all the risks What does it mean currently communicate by email, especially when you share private and personal data, power is more than necessary have a tool that helps you protect each of your conversations over the Internet. This is how tools like Enigmail will help you to make each of your messages, both sent and received through emails, much more secure..
That is why below we show you the main benefits that this extension offers you:
- Being a extension you should not download to the computerso your process of installation will be much easier.
- It offers you the possibility of create a cipher for each of the messages you send and receive, this will allow them to not be modified along the way by third parties.
- It offers a very advanced security system, this is how It allows disable HTML service because many attacks can be suffered through it, so HTML emails are often much more vulnerable.
- Allows you to configure yourself with email servers such as Yahoo, Gmail and Outlook.
- Helps you generate public and private keys.
- offers you a maximum privacy and security at the time of share data over the Internet.
- Currently communications over the network have become the target of the attackers, so that Enigmail will help you block them making sure the integrity of each of your messages through the Web.
How does Enigmail work? Securely encrypting messages with GPG
We need to remember enigmail is a extension that works together with Mozilla Thunderbirdwhich allows you to carry out what is message encryption with GPGas well as digital signatures to provide security much larger than each your communications over the Internet. the same is completely free What can be freely used, modified and distributed.
Therefore, the principal function of this plugin is to help you send encrypted emails, avoiding that third parties can read or modify them at their convenience. Keep in mind that when you encrypts a message or file can only be read by those users who have access to it through a public or private key that has been previously created.
In this way, it is considered as a very important tool for what is the application procedure of the software of Pretty Good Privacysince when working with thunderbird will allow the entire procedure of Privacy in communications is carried out correctly, ensuring proper functioning. Besides that encryption via Enigmail it is much easier to do.
Learn step by step how to install Enigmail in Firefox Thunderbird
enigmail is considered as a fundamental complement to carry out what is the generation of public and private keys for the encryption of messages through email. In this way, here we are going to teach you what are the steps you should follow to perform the installation of this extension in Mozilla Thunderbird.
To do this, follow each of the steps that we will explain below:
Prepare the installation of Enigmail
When mozilla thunderbird is running for the first time you will see a confirmation window asking you about some default settings, in this case it is best to click on the option “Set as defaults”.
You will also be asked if you want to open a new email address electronic or you want to use an existing one, for this you need to click on Skip this and use my existing email”. Later you must configure the browser to both send and receive email. In the event that you are used to only using the servers of Outlook, Gmail and Yahoo, then with thunderbird you are going to experience a new experience, but it will not be so different from the previous ones.
Keep in mind that these aspects are essential to configure it for what it will be Enigmail installationin case you have already Logged in to Mozilla Thunderbird previously, then this data will already be configured.
Install Enigmail
As it is a complement, its installation will be carried out differently from that of any other program, even in a different way than how Mozilla Thunderbird is installed.
Therefore, for this you must follow each of the steps that we are going to teach you below:
- The first thing in this case will be access the Mozilla Thunderbird menuto do this click on the three horizontal lines that appear at the top right of your screen. In the drop-down menu that appears there you must select “Accessories”.
- Later you will be redirected to the tab “Administrator of accessories”.
- There you will find the plugin search field which is located in the upper right part of your screen. Just click on it and write “Enigmail”.
- after a few seconds the extension will appear first in the list, there you must click on the option “Install”.
- Now a loading bar will appear indicating the installation percentage, it usually lasts a few minutes. When it’s already been Installed the Mozilla browser plugin it will ask you to restart it confirm installation. To do this you must select the button “Restart now”.
- When the browser restarts one will open for you new additional window on screen, on it you must Start the “Enigmail” configuration process. Then you must select the option “Start setup now” and then select “Following”.
At this point you have to remember that the main function of this extension is to protect against any type of attack or dangerand today most of the attacks usually come from the HTML service, so having it enabled can pose a danger to users. That is how E-FAIL has shown that the html it turns out a danger to the emailsthis is why it is recommended to users disable said feature through Enigmail.
To do this, you need to follow these steps:
- Again you must enter the thunderbird menuto do so, click on the three horizontal lines located at the top right of your screen.
- In the menu that appears there you must select the option “Watch” in the list of options on the right.
- Now you must select the option “Message body as” and then select “Plain text”.
You should keep in mind that view email with HTML service disabled possibly I can generate some usability inconveniencessince everything will appear in plain text and it is also possible that some attachments do not appear there. It is also important to clarify that deactivating this service is not mandatory, so it will depend on each user to do it or not.
However, it is important to mention that having this service activated will generate a greater risk, as HTML emails are more vulnerable to any type of attack. Therefore, for users who drive important and private information through these communications it is best that you do not take these types of risks. In this way you can prepare and install the Enigmail extension in Mozilla Thunderbird to carry out what will be the public and private key generation for data encryption through PGP.
Enigmail vs OpenPGP What is the best tool to have a secure mail?
It must be borne in mind that this encryption process can be done through two tools associated with Mozilla Thunderbirdthe most recent functionality added was that of email encryption and digital signatures through the OpenPGP standardwhich has been added for the purpose of replace what is enigmail extensionwhich will continue to be compatible with Thunderbird but only until the end of 2020.
In this way, the complement of enigmail despite facilitating all this procedure of encryption is coming to an endit has been characterized by making it possible for this browser with external GnuPG software can create a data encryption for which are communications via email. Therefore, users who they did not use Enigmail above may start another by making use of OpenPGP.
As encryption will not be automatically enabled, and in the case of the new functionality of Thunderbird will have all the necessary details to facilitate procedures to users. It must be remembered that all this is done in order to be able to promote communications over the Internet in a secure manner, where the user will be motivated to make use of the encryption in order to prevent their data
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