PGP encryption

Ensure your privacy with encrypted e-mail. EssentialPIM offers built in PGP encryption that allows signing and/or encrypting your correspondence.

How PGP encryption works

PGP uses a variation of the public key system. In this system, each user has a pair of keys: one is the public encryption key and the second a private decryption key. Each key pair contains sub-keys: one for encryption and and one for digital signature. Public keys can also be signed. Signing someone's key is saying to the world you have verified the identify of this person. Key signing will be reflected in the sub-key certificate. More information about keys and certificate structure can be found in the PGP Key Management tool.

The system works as follows: a person who wants to receive encrypted messages creates a pair of private and public keys and shares the public key with other people. The public key is used for encrypting messages only. The user encrypts the message with the public key and sends it to the key issuer. The recipient decrypts the encrypted message with his private key. You can learn more about encryption and decryption in EssentialPIM here.

PGP also supports authentication and integrity check using digital signatures. By default, it is used in conjunction with encryption, but it can also be applied separately. Digital signature serves to detect whether a message was sent by a sender and whether any attempt was made to make changes in the content.