Received message need decrypt

mhm.mertens's Avatar

mhm.mertens

19 Feb, 2012 09:20 PM

I successfully use GPGMail 1.33 under Snow Leo 10.6.8.

What I find a bit impractical is this: If I read an email which was received and read some days ago I need to decrypt it again, which of course requires to type my passphrase again.

How can I achieve that once decrypted messages stay decrypted. The protection I need is for transit, not for storing it on my Mac.

I would also prefer if I could get more control over the encryption. i.e. press encrypt, then press send. This would give more confidence so that the message is really and in front of my eyes encrypted before it goes out. It is after all sensitive information. To check in the SENT folder if it was encrypted afterwards is a bit late.

  1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Steve on 20 Feb, 2012 02:15 PM

    Steve's Avatar

    Hey Mhm,

    this is not possible with 1.3.3. We might implement this functionality in GPGMail 2.0 but that is only running on 10.7.

    And believe me, the encryption is done before the mail is sent. We would not have a user base of a few thousand if it were otherwise. To check feel free to fire up your network sniffer. ;)

    All the best, steve

  2. Steve closed this discussion on 20 Feb, 2012 02:15 PM.

  3. mhm.mertens re-opened this discussion on 20 Feb, 2012 05:09 PM

  4. 2 Posted by mhm.mertens on 20 Feb, 2012 05:09 PM

    mhm.mertens's Avatar

    Thanks Steve for your answer.

    Looking forward to a "Decrypt once only" feature in GPGMail 2.x
    I would imagine many people rather need protection during transit than local encryption.

    Yes I certainly know that mail gets encrypted before its being sent, yet from the user standpoint a little more feedback to the user would be good. The entire user base must have had this feeling with their first few secure emails.

    The design goal should be: Make it usable for the average Joe and you have certainly done a lot in the past to get to that point, no doubt.

  5. Support Staff 3 Posted by Steve on 20 Feb, 2012 05:56 PM

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    mhm: there are several problems attached to delivering such a feature. it is really insecure and if you use imap it would also mean unencrypted msgs get stored on the server which would spoil the whole concept of secure communication.

    I think what you rather want is not to enter your passphrase that often? that can be easily dealt with by using GPGPreferences and there setting a certain amount of time for which the passphrase gets stored. would that solve your problem?

  6. 4 Posted by mhm.mertens on 20 Feb, 2012 07:21 PM

    mhm.mertens's Avatar

    Steve, now this was proof that it pays to think before making feature requests :-) Your German speaking colleagues would call this a case of "Brett vorm Kopf"

    Of course, when using IMAP we would loose out in a big way.

    I'll set the passphrase storing time a bit longer.

    Thanks
    Michael

  7. Support Staff 5 Posted by Steve on 21 Feb, 2012 06:00 PM

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    Hehe, no problem. I speak german as well.

    Glad, we could clarify this. And understanding the internals of technology is always helpful. The more you know the better the choices you make.

    Enjoy & viele Grüße :)

    steve

  8. Steve closed this discussion on 21 Feb, 2012 06:00 PM.

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