CNN has an article on how the US enabled the recent Chinese hacking of Gmail via a backdoor created for US government searches. So how can you protect your email from hackers, corporations, and governments? Easy. Encrypt it. Here’s how to do it for free:
- Download Mozilla’s Thunderbird and use it as your email client. It works on Windows and Mac machines.
- Click Here to install GNU Privacy Guard on your computer, open source PGP software. The will allow you to encrypt and decrypt messages. (You can find the Mac version here.)
- Download the Enigmail extension for Thunderbird. In Thunderbird click Tools, Addons, Install, and then browse to wherever you downloaded the Enigmail file to, to install it. (Mac version here.)
- Once it’s installed, you’ll see an OpenPGP button in Thunderbird. Choose Key Management, and Generate a New Key Pair. Choose the email address you want to use the key for, and make up a good password with difficult letters, numbers, and characters.
- When you’re done, right click your key and email it (only the “public” half will be emailed) to your contacts. Have them do the same. Then you can send and receive encrypted messages that hackers and spies won’t be able to read even if they get your messages.
What about the important files on your computer? Go get TrueCrypt. It’s free, and you can encrypt anything from your entire computer to important files only. That way if your computer is ever stolen or hacked, no one will be able to access anything you don’t want them to.
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