This is a list of the privacy tools that I regularly use on my computer. The software listed here is free.

Friends say that I go a little overboard with the protection of my privacy, and I suppose that I do. However, there is a key tool here that everyone should use and that’s email privacy. Just like everything else in the computer world, the word “encryption” now refers to something that is so easy to use that you can forget that you’re using it while still reaping all of the benefits.

Technology moves forward, after all.

Note that I hope to be using Freenigma soon but I don’t have it yet so it’s not officially in this list. It’s free, and I should have it soon. If it works as they say it does then this will be my #1 recommended tool to everyone. More on this later.

Out of all of the software that’s listed here I only recommend the first, Ciphire Mail, to the average computer user as long as you use a program like Outlook Express or Thunderbird (it’s not useful if you log into a website to use your email).

From top to bottom the programs decrease in how easy they are to use for the average computer user.

• Ciphire Mail
What It Does: Ciphire Mail is my favorite email encryption tool. It’s super easy to use, it’s free (like everything else here), and after it’s setup it runs so silently that you can forget that you have it. It also anonymizes the Subject line of your emails, and that’s important.
• Trillian Off–The-Record
What It Does: Provides “off the record” encryption for your instant message conversations. This is a plugin for Trillian Pro. Note that Trillian Pro is not free, but the plugin is. Free versions of Trillian can use the OTR proxy, but that’s not particularly easy to setup.
• iOpus Secure Email Attachments
What It Does: The name of this tool is a misnomer. This software from iOpus will compress (reduce the size of) and encrypt any file. It can save the encrypted file as either an .exe (a program) or a .cab (similar to a .zip file). It has some seriously cool features, check its website for more information.
• TrueCrypt
What It Does: TrueCrypt is one of my favorite security programs. You know the C: drive on your computer? TrueCrypt can create drives like that, but each drive (technically called a “partition”) is password protected and heavily encrypted. Check its website for a more detailed list of features.
• GnuPG
What It Does: Provides PGP encryption of email and files. NOTE: I recommend that people obtain PGP from the PGP Corporation [get that here] rather than use GnuPG. GnuPG is a headache to use.
• Enigmail
What It Does: This works in conjunction with GnuPG to provide email encryption, decryption, and signing. It is a plugin for the Thunderbird email program, my favorite (and the best!) email program on Earth.
• FireGPG
What It Does: This also works in conjunction with GnuPG. It is a Firefox plugin that provides PGP encryption, decryption, and signing inside of GMail.

Please note that PGP Corporation’s software is not free. However, it will revert to a free version after 30 days. The free version has reduced user-friendliness and is focused mostly on email privacy. PGP Corporation’s software will not work on the 64bit version of Windows (including Vista), and they currently have no plans to support it.

That’s it for now,
~Steph

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