PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid (Paperback)

by Michael W Lucas (Author) "You don't need to understand everything about modern cryptography to use OpenPGP successfully..." (more)
Key Phrases: Outlook Express, Michael Warren Lucas, Global Directory (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"An excellent book that shows . . . just about everything [you] need to know to effectively and properly use PGP and OpenPGP." -- Slashdot, June 26, 2006

"Buy and read this book to gain a better understanding of how to protect and secure . . . messages from unauthorized viewing." -- About.com, June 12, 2006

Product Description
PGP & GPG is an easy-to read, informal tutorial for achieving electronic privacy on the cheap using the standard tools of the email privacy field – commercial PGP and non-commercial GnuPG (GPG). The book shows how to integrate these OpenPGP implementations into the most common email clients and how to use PGP and GPG in daily email correspondence both to send and receive encrypted email. PGP & GPG is written for the moderately skilled computer user who is unfamiliar with public key cryptography but who is, nevertheless, interested in guarding his email privacy. Lucas's relaxed tone makes this complex topic clear and simple enough to be understood by any reasonably savvy computer user.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; illustrated edition edition (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593270712
• ISBN-13: 978-1593270711
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #427,732 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for understanding and using PGP/GPG, May 9, 2006

By	James Holmes "Co-Author 'Windows Developer Po... (South Central Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This really is a terrific book if you're at all interested in learning how to secure information. It's very well-written in a clear, *concise* manner.

Two great introductory chapters lay out the fundamentals of cryptography and OpenPGP in plain English. There's nice coverage on terminology, the differences between OpenPGP/PGP/GPG, and the basics of using them.

The first chapter has also got a terrific chart laying out specific actions for things you want to do with your messages, like "I want to send a message that only my intended recipient can read" which is answered by "Encrypt the message with the recipient's public key." Much of the rest of the book follows this same clear vein as the author moves through the details of implementing PGP/GPG.

The book is full of small tidbits of very useful information, such as considerations for selecting expiration periods for your keys, or how to decide on what levels of trust to give family and friends, or even how to increase your paranoia by worrying about whether or not a hardware keystroke probe is monitoring your passphrase as you enter it.

The sections covering implementation of GPG are particularly well done. GPG isn't the easiest thing to work with, but Lucas does a great job of pointing out potential pitfalls and working readers past the rough spots.

A terrific work that lays out lots of good information in a small, well-written package.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-have PGP and GPG book, August 8, 2006

By	Richard Bejtlich "TaoSecurity.com" (Metro Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

PGP & GPG is another excellent book by Michael Lucas. I thoroughly enjoyed his other books due to their content and style. PGP & GPG continues in this fine tradition. If you are trying to learn how to use PGP or GPG, or at least want to ensure you are using them properly, read PGP & GPG.

Content-wise, PGP & GPG covers just about everything I would like to see in a book on encrypting email. Lucas addresses Windows and Unix options, both commercial and open source. I only paid real attention to sections on GPG and the Thunderbird Enigmail extension, since that is what I use.

Style-wise, PGP & GPG is incredibly readable. Email encryption could be a dense topic when covered by another author. Lucas addresses the right points, in the right order, with the right attitude. He's one of my favorite authors in this regard. Certain tips he shares, like setting keys to expire annually, or CC'ing yourself when sending encrypted email, or mentioning smart cards for keys, really make a difference. I agree with previous reviewers who liked the task-oriented chart on p. 14 -- that is awesome.

PGP & GPG is definitely a winner. The word "practical" in the subtitle could easily apply to the message of this book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Introduction to PGP, June 30, 2006

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid by Michael Lucas is a wonderful introdution book for anyone that wants to learn more about OpenPGP. What it is, where it's been, where it's going and why it's important in the high tech world, this is the perfect book. At 180+ pages in length this is the kind of overview book that I would expect to get. Nothing bulky with 1,000 pages, this is the kind of book that can be opened up and read in a short amount of time, while providing a massive amount of content about PGP. Anyone that wants to learn more about encryption and specifically PGP would be wise to pick up this book, nicely done!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED