PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid [Paperback]

Michael W Lucas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2006

OpenPGP is the most widely used email encryption standard in the world. It is based on PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) as originally developed by Phil Zimmermann. The OpenPGP protocol defines standard formats for encrypted messages, signatures, and certificates for exchanging public keys.

PGP & GPG is an easy-to read, informal tutorial for implementing 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 to both send and receive encrypted email.

The PGP & GPG book is written for the moderately skilled computer user who is unfamiliar with public key cryptography but who is nevertheless interested in guarding their email privacy. Lucas's trademark informal and relaxed tone makes public key cryptography as simple and clear as possible, so that any reasonably savvy computer user can understand it.

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

From the Back Cover

"...The World's first user-friendly book on email privacy...unless you're a cryptographer, or never use email, you should read this book." —Len Sassaman, CodeCon Founder

"Today, most email is sent like a postcard. We all should want to put our mail back into secure envelopes again. PGP and GPG are two of the leading tools to make that happen." —Brad Templeton, Chairman of the Board, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Governments worldwide, major manufacturers, medical facilities, and many of the smartest computer experts around trust their secure communications to PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). But, while PGP works amazingly when all is in order, it isn’t always easy to configure and can be very tricky to troubleshoot. And email security is hardly the sort of thing you want to leave to chance.

PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid is for moderately skilled geeks who are unfamiliar with public-key cryptography but who want to protect their communications on the cheap. Author Michael Lucas offers this easy-to-read, informal tutorial on PGP, so you can dive in right away.

Inside, you’ll learn:
• How to integrate OpenPGP with the most common email clients (like Outlook and Thunderbird)
• How to use the tricky command-line versions of these programs
• How to join and use the Web of Trust

If you're not using PGP yet, this book supplies the confidence you need to get started. And if you are, it will show you how to use these tools more easily and effectively.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593270712
• ISBN-13: 978-1593270711
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #588,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 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 review is from: PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid (Paperback)

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.

13 of 13 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" (Metro Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid (Paperback)

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.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

Daniel McKinnon "Dan" (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: PGP & GPG: Email for the Practical Paranoid (Paperback)

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