Use K-9 Mail and APG to encrypt emails on Android

Use K-9 Mail and APG to encrypt emails on Android

Sometimes, you need an email that is sent out in a highly secure manner and is not peeked at by others, even if the email is sent out when you go out. If this is necessary, encryption is required. But how do you encrypt emails when using Android devices? Surprisingly, this is very simple, as long as you have the right tool.

You will naturally ask which tools are used?

• K-9 Mail ()

• APG ()

K-9 Mail is one of the more flexible and powerful email client software for Android, APG is OpenPGP Android porting version. With APG, you will be able to generate and manage keys that can be used in conjunction with the K-9 for encryption. APG makes it easy to generate and manage encryption keys.

If you have said so much, you may wish to start encryption!

Install

This step is important. You need to install both applications, but you should install APG before installing the K-9. When installing the K-9, it will detect whether you have installed APG and enable encryption automatically.

To install APG, follow these steps:

1. Open the Google Play app store on your Android device.

2. Search for APG.

3. Find and click the application developed by Thialfihar Communication.

4. Click Install.

5. Read Permission list.

6. If the permission list is acceptable, click Accept ("Accept ").

7. Complete the installation on your own.

Once the APG installation is complete, follow the same steps to install the K-9 Mail.

Manage keys

The first thing you need to do is to generate a new key or import an existing key. To generate a key, follow these steps:

1. Open APG.

2. Click the menu button in the main window (three points in the upper right corner ).

3. Click Create key ).

4. Fill in the necessary information when prompted (see figure)

5. Once you have filled in the relevant information, click Save ).

Figure A: Create A key on the Motorola Droid Turbo of the venison brand.

If you want to send an encrypted email to someone else, you also need to import the recipient's public key. There are several ways to do this:

• Import from the key server

• Import from a file

• Import from QR code

• Import from clipboard

• Import from NFC (Near-Field Communication)

To import a key, perform the following operations:

1. From the main window, click the overflow menu (three horizontal lines) in the upper left corner ).

2. Click Import Keys ).

3. From the key drop-down menu, select where you want to import the key (see figure B)

4. Follow the relevant steps to import the data (the steps may change depending on the method selected ).

Figure B: import the public key. Encrypted email

Now you can encrypt the email. After starting the K-9 for the first time, you need to step through the account setup wizard prompts. This wizard is as simple as any other wizard. It takes only a few simple steps to complete the setup (see Figure C ).

Figure C: Set the account in K-9 Mail.

Once the account is set up, you can encrypt the email at any time. Before encrypting the first email, enable two encryption settings to make the encryption task easier. Perform this operation:

1. Open K-9.

2. Click the menu button and then click Settings ).

3. Click Account Settings ).

4. scroll to the end and click encryption ).

5. Enable Auto-sign and Auto-encrypt at the same time, as shown in Figure D ).

Figure D: Enable Automatic Signature and automatic encryption at the same time.

When these functions are enabled, outbound emails are automatically set to signature and encryption. The encryption function automatically checks whether the recipient has a public key in the APG. If no, the email will not be encrypted.

The following describes how to send encrypted emails:

1. Open K-9 Mail.

2. In the main window, click the plus sign [+] to write a new email.

3. In the To column, add the address of the recipient whose public key has been imported To APG.

4. If you have not set the automatic signature function, click Enable Sign in the writing window ).

5. When prompted, select the public key used for the signature.

6. If you have not set the automatic encryption function, click Encrypt ).

7. Write your email.

8. After writing, click Send ).

That's it! Your email has been encrypted.

Decryption

If you receive an encrypted email, it can only be decrypted using your public key. After you open the email in K-9 Mail, there will be a Decrypt (decryption) button (see Figure E ). Click the Decrypt button and enter the password related to your public key. The email will be decrypted.

Figure E: decrypt the email in K-9 Mail.

That's it! You have successfully encrypted and decrypted emails from Android devices. You can rest assured that the sensitive data you need to send via email is extremely secure and will not be peeked.

Do you still think this method is safe enough to transmit sensitive company data to emails using encryption technology?