How to install and use PGP on MacOS computers? step by step guide

web security is one of the most important factors today for everyone, especially for those who are communications over the network where they are constantly sharing a large amount of data and very important information. For this, it is recommended to use the pgp, this being one of the most popular and used encryption software all over the world.

pgp also know as Pretty Good Privacy it’s today maybe the best data encryption software that can be found on the web markethe will make sure protect your communications over the Internetamong many other uses that you can give it, but its main function is that of encrypt and decrypt communications through emailsthus preventing their content from being modified along the way.

Among some of the other functions that you can take advantage of this software created by Phil Zimmerman is the one of ensure the security of disk partitions and directories. According to all this, here we are going to teach you what are the main benefits you can get with PGP and how you can start installing it on your Mac computer to increase your Privacy & Security in the.

What are the benefits of using PGP on MacOS computers?

This software known as Pretty Good Privacy in English and what in Spanish means “Pretty good privacy” has become one of the softwares of most important encryption in the worldand it is that this creation by Phil Zimmerman It is characterized by offering a large number of advantages to its users, especially those who constantly have to be sharing data through email or any other means of communication.

Taking into account the importance of using PGP, here we are going to show you the main benefits that this tool offers you:

• The Pretty Good Privacy offers a combined use of symmetric and asymmetric encryption.
• the pgp is characterized by offering its users the possibility of safely share any type of information or cryptographic keys over the Internet.
• By offering a hybrid system, the Pretty Good Privacy is able to profit from both the speed of symmetric encryption like the security of asymmetric cryptography.
• It also offers what they are digital signatureswhich guarantee you a increased protection and integrity of all the data you send to other users over the network.
• Thanks to openPGP protocol allowed what is the emergence of a much more competitive and standardizedfor which the solutions pgp now they are provided by organizations and companies.
• All the programs Pretty Good Privacy that they comply with the OpenPGP standards are compatible with each other. Therefore, the generated programs and keys by one program can be used in another no incompatibility issues.

Learn step by step how to install and use PGP on your MacOS

If you’re mac user and you want to start use PGP on your computer then it will be necessary to use three programs that will allow all this to work correctly, in these cases it is about GnuPG, Mozilla Thunderbird and Enigmail. It is worth mentioning that GnuPG is the program that handles encrypt and decrypt content sent through your mail.

While Thunderbird is an email client which enables read and write your messages and Enigmail it’s a plugin that will make everything work properly. In order to carry out this procedure, all you need is a Mac computer with an Internet connection and an email account. This process usually takes about 30 to 60 minutes so it can get a bit long.

Having all this clear we can start with the procedure, to do this follow each of the steps that we are going to teach you below:

Get GnuPG

• The first thing will be to GnuPG download on Mac computeryou can download it from its official page or from this same post.

Download GnuPG Mac OS

• When you have entered its main page You must select the download link right next to OS X for it to start download the GPG installer.

• After this you will be redirected to the page of sourceforge downloads, from there you can see the download percentage bar. Here you just have to wait for it to run at 100%.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird

The next thing will be to Mozilla download thunder birdto do this go to its official site and click on the green button of “Free download”. The website will automatically detect your language in use, andn case you want to download it with another language then you must click on “System and languages” and from there you make your choice.

Download Mozilla Thunderbird macOS

Install DnuPG

• Now you must continue with the installation of the GPGin this case click on the download icon in the Dock and then select the file GnuPG-2.11-002.dmg.
• Next, a window will appear on the screen where you will be shown installation progress.
• When this progress bar is complete, a window will open. GnuPG where can you view the installation file and other filesin this case double click on “Install.pkg”.

• In the new window that appears there you will start with installationTo do this, select the option “Continue”.

• GPG will be installed as a system package so you must enter your username and password To install it, once you enter this data you must select “Install software”.

• After this, a window will appear where you will be notified that the installation has been successfulthere select the close button.

Install Mozilla Thunderbird

• To carry out this installation you must click on the icon download to dock and later in the Thunderbird 45.20.0.dmg file.
• You will then be shown the window of progress.
• When this window arrives at 100% a screen will automatically open with the Mozilla Thunderbird icon and a link in your applications folder, here you must drag the browser icon to the applications folder.

• A window will appear again with the progress bar, once it is complete it will close.
• Within this folder you must select the files “GnuPG 2.1” and “Thunderbird” simultaneously and run them assembled.

Prepare Enigmail installation

• When you go to access mozilla thunderbird For the first time, the system your mac will ask you if you are sure to open ityou must bear in mind that this browser has been downloaded from a completely safe site such as orgso you must select the button “Open”.

• This browser can be integrated with your Mac’s address book, but to approve or not to approve this option is only up to you.
• When this browser is running for the first time, a window will appear on the screen. confirmation where it will ask you about some default settingsIn this case, it is best to select the option “Set as default”.
• When starting for the first time the browser on your Macyou will be asked if you want to open a new e-mail adressin this case you must select “Skip this and use my existing email address”. The next thing will be to configure it to be able to send and receive email through the servers of Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook.

Installing Enigmail

At this point you have to install Enigmailjust as it was mentioned at the beginning of the post, it is a extension so its installation will be different from the two programs mentioned above.

To do this, it will be necessary to follow each of these steps:

• The first thing you should do is go to mozilla thunderbird and select your menufor this you must click on the three horizontal lines located in the upper right part of your screen, in the menu that appears there you must select “Accessories”.

• Here a new window will open “Accessories”, in the search box located at the top right you must write enigmail and press “Enter”.
• As you can see “Enigmail” will appear first in the list, there you must click on the button “Install”.

• There you will see a status bar where you can see the level of installation that carries the extension. Once installed you will be asked to restart the browser so that the plugin can be activated, to do this you must click on “Restart now”.

• Once it has restarted mozilla explorer A new additional window will open so that you can start the procedure of setting of the extension. Here you must click on the option “Start setup now” and then in “Following”.

• In the new window that appears you must indicate that you want to make a Standard configuration and again click “Following”.

As part of the configuration you need to take into account that security reasons it will be necessary disable HTMLsince many of the attacks received in Enigmail come from HTML when this is found activatedso it is considered dangerous in emails.

Therefore, the most advisable thing in this case is to deactivate it, for this you must follow these steps:

• Again you must select the three horizontal lines of mozilla thunderbird for that this menu will be displayed.
• In the options that appear available to you, you must select the item of “Watch”.

• Then you must select the option “Message body as” and in the menu that appears below choose “Plain text”.

This way you will be disabling what is the HTML of the emailkeep in mind that when you deactivate this function it can cause you some usability drawbacksas some of the files attachments will not appear.

However, it must be remembered that this step is not mandatory, but it will certainly It will help make you less vulnerable and make your data and communications much more secure. Therefore, it is up to each of the users if they take the risk of using the email with HTML or not.

Create a public key and a private key

• If you already created one email account then Enigmail will choose the account you have set up earlierin case you haven’t you will need to configure it. In this case, the first thing you should do is place a strong password for what your private key will be and then click “Following”.

• It is important that you keep in mind that your password will have a expiration datewhen this happens all the users who previously used it will stop doing it to encrypt any new email sent to you. It is possible that do not receive any notification about this so you must be very attentive to when the expiration date of it is, as this will allow you to attend to this problem in advance.

If you want to opt for extend the life of your existing keythen you can assign a new and a later expiration dateit is also possible to replace it with a new key by creating another one from scratch. Whichever of the options you choose, it will be necessary to contact the people you communicate with so that you can be completely sure that they have received the updated key correctly.

If you do not know how you can see the expiration date of your Thunderbird key, then you will need to follow these steps that we will indicate below:

• The first will access the menu “Enigmail” and there select “Key Management”.
• Now you must look for your key in the “Enigmail key management” once you find it you must select it by double clicking on it.
• A new window will then open, in the “Expiration” you will be able view key expiration dateif you want to set a new expiration date then you must select the option “Change” right next to the expiration date.
• It is important that after change the public key share it with your contacts or publish it on a key server.
• The extension will handle generate the key and when this is completed, a new window will open requesting that the “Certificate of revocation”.

The Revocation Certificate It is extremely important in these cases, so it is essential to be able to keep it in a safe zonesince with him it will be the only way to be able to invalidate private key and public key in case the same get lost or stolen. Furthermore, it is recommended that both the key and the certificate are stored in different locations, even if these two data are not found on the same computer.

As alternatives, it is recommended save the revocation certificate on a CD or USB external storage memory and keep it in a safe place. In case you only choose delete your public key or private key this is not going to invalidate itso other users can send you encrypted messages that you will not be able to decrypt.

In order to generate your certificate you must click on the “Generate certificate” button and follow these steps:

• Later, a new window will open asking you to add the password what did you use for create pgp keyonce added click on “Okay”.

• In the next window you must select in which location you want save the revocation certificatehere it is important to take into account everything mentioned above, here you can save it to your computer or use an external storage device that is intended solely for that purpose. It is important that both the key and the certificate are not stored on the same computer for security measures.
• When you have decided where to save it, simply click on “Save”.

• Enigmail will give you more information related to how to store the file revocation, here you must select “Okay”.

• After this the process of generating a private and public key will have finished successfully, just click “To finalize” to close that window.

PGP vs GPG What is the best tool to improve privacy?

Surely you may be wondering which of these two tools is better to improve privacy in your communications over the Internet, both of them are computer programs that have been developed for protect communications over the Internet and that are made to via email, this being one of major media outlets around the world.

However, it should be mentioned that the e-mails are not currently the medium safer for it, since they can be easily exploited by experts, who can modify all the internal content of the same violating the originality of the emails. They are also easily stored and read by people with special abilities in this area.

according to all these vulnerabilities and considering that valuable and private information is shared through emails, there is a possibility of improving their safety, it is through the GPGs and PGPs, since both programs have been created for this purpose. Either of them will help you. keep emails privatefor this they offer what is the message encryption where only authorized people can access them.

However, here are some differences between the two so you can decide which one is the best alternative for you:

• pgp is known as Pretty Good Privacywhile what gpg is known as “GNU Privacy Guard”.
• pgp is an encryption solution patented by Symantec.
• GPG is another encryption solution but what follows what are the openPGP standards and provides an interface so that users have the possibility to easily encrypt each of your files.
• You can download a free version of the program Pretty Good Privacy since the PGP International home page, but this is found restricted for what is personal use and not for commercial purposes.
• GPG it’s a free program which has digital signature and email encryption, it can be downloaded for both commercial use as personal use.
• pgp it’s a genuine freeware program with Copyrightwhile GPG is the rewrite of PGP.
• Pretty Good Privacy it is characterized by use the RSA algorithm and the IDEA encryption algorithm, Meanwhile he GPG uses the NIST AES standard, Advanced Encryption.