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Novell Confidential
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Unencrypting a Received Message
If you receive an encrypted message, you need to decrypt it before you read it. Remember, the
sender must have your public key before they can send you an encrypted message.
When you view the message, Evolution prompts you for your PGP password. Enter it, and the
unencrypted message is displayed.
S/MIME Encryption
S/MIME encryption also uses a key-based approach, but it has some significant advantages in
convenience and security. S/MIME uses certificates, which are similar to keys. The public portion
of each certificate is held by the sender of a message and by one of several certificate authorities,
who are paid to guarantee the identity of the sender and the security of the message. Evolution
already recognizes a large number of certificate authorities, so when you get a message with an S/
MIME certificate, your system automatically receives the public portion of the certificate and
decrypts or verifies the message.
S/MIME is used most often in corporate settings. In these cases, administrators supply certificates
that they have purchased from a certificate authority. In some cases, an organization can act as its
own certificate authority, with or without a guarantee from a dedicated authority such as VeriSign*
or Thawte*. In either case, the system administrator provides you with a certificate file.
If you want to use S/MIME independently, you can extract an identification certificate from your
Mozilla* or Netscape Web browser. See the Mozilla help for more information on security
certificates.
The certificate file is a password-protected file on your computer.
Adding a Signing Certificate
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Similarly, you can add certificates that are sent to you independently of any authority by clicking
the Contact Certificates tab and using the same Import tool. You can also add new certificate
authorities, which have their own certificate files, in the same way.
Signing or Encrypting Every Message
After you have added your certificate, you can sign or encrypt a message by clicking Security > S/
MIME Sign or S/MIME Encrypt in the message composer.
To have every message signed or encrypted:
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Click OK.
Click Close.
Click Edit > Preferences, then click Certificate.
Click Import.
Select the file to import, then click Open.
Click Close.
Click Edit > Preferences, then select the account to encrypt the messages in.
Click Edit, then click Security.
Click Select next to Signing Certificate and specify the path to your signing certificate.
Manual (ENU) 21 December 2004
Sending and Receiving E-Mail
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