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Hurricane Tech – Powering your Land Line Phone Service

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In the old days, Telephone Service was provided by a pair of copper wires that were directly connected between your home or office and the Telephone Company Central Office.  It was the responsibility of the Telephone Company Central Office to provide dial-tone, line voltage, and ring voltage to that copper pair – the power that made the phone work.  As many of us remember in the days before the Internet, even if the Utility Power was out, we could still make and receive phone calls.  Telephone sets had mechanical bells completely powered by the electricity provided from the Telephone Company Central Office.

Fast forward to the modern day and the POTS line (Plain Old Telephone Service – an affectionate name for traditional copper phone line service) is fast becoming extinct.  Cable companies are moving customers away from traditional analog copper and over to digital VoIP (Voice Over IP) services provided through a Cable Modem.  Voice is now a digital data service and an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter – usually built in to the Cable Modem) converts that digital data in to the same two wire pair that your telephone can use.

As Cable companies convince you to give up your “almost guaranteed to work in a power outage POTS lines” they quietly tell you, “If you lose Utility Power, a battery in our Cable Modem will keep your phone working for between four and six hours.”  What they fail to remind you of is that if that Battery is not periodically checked to make sure it is properly charging and still functioning, when the Utility Power goes out, so will your telephone service.

To make matters worse, almost everyone uses either cordless or corded phone that has a base station that requires electricity to operate.  Even if the Battery in the Cable Modem is providing Dial-Tone, it is of no value if your Telephone requires Utility Power to operate.

It is a catastrophe waiting to happen.  For those of you thinking, “Well I will just use my cell phone.”  In a severe storm, especially if Utility Power is off in the area, it will only be a matter of time before the Cell Towers lose power and exhaust their backup power sources and shut-down as well.  Even if the Cell Towers remain operational, your Cell Phone Battery will eventually run down.

Solution:  Proper Planning.

First – If you have your Telephone Service through a Cable Company, make sure that your Cable Modem, which usually provides your Telephone Service, has the “Power Failure Battery” installed.  If your Cable Modem provides Telephone Service and does NOT have a built in Battery Backup, ask the Cable Company to exchange out your equipment for a model that does have a Built-in Battery Backup. Note: Some Cable Companies provide a free UPS in place of a Built-in Battery Backup for the Cable Modem.

Second – If your Cable Modem already has a Built-in Battery Backup, make sure you check it at least once a month to verify that the Built-in Battery Backup is properly charging and functioning.  If you are not sure how to verify the health of the Battery, ask your Cable Company. Usually there will be a series of lights: Charging, On-Battery, and Replace Battery.

Third – Make sure you have a traditional Line Powered Telephone.  A Line Powered Telephone is one that does NOT have an electrical plug – only an RJ11 telephone “silver satin” cord that plugs in to the wall jack. It is O.K. if the phone takes batteries for functions like Caller ID.  NOTE:  Some phones that do require Utility Power A/C electricity have a “Power Failure” mode where even though the ringer may not ring, you can still pick-up the receiver and make an outbound telephone call.  This is not optimal but acceptable for being able to dial 911 for an emergency.

Fourth – As an alternative to the Built-in Battery for the Cable Modem and a Line Powered Telephone, you can purchase a decent size Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) Battery Backup Unit.  The higher the Wattage, the longer the unit will power your Cable Modem and Telephone Base Station – both of which have electrical plugs which can be connected directly to the UPS.  This may be an expensive option in that a 1500 Watt rated unit, which can power the above situation for four to six hours, can cost upwards of $200.  This also assumes that your Telephone and your Cable modem are in close proximity and can both reach the UPS to be plugged in.

In summary, if you do not have the luxury of having both Traditional POTS lines, that will work without Utility Power, and VoIP lines, then make sure you are able to provide some kind of Power (Internal Battery or UPS) to both your Cable Modem and to your Telephone to keep your VoIP service working.

Securing your Home Network – Close the Ad-Hoc Wi-Fi® Backdoor

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In an effort to make data sharing easy, many Wi-Fi® devices support both Infrastructure Mode connections and Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer connections.  Infrastructure mode is most common and is when a Wi-Fi® device connects directly to a Wi-Fi® Router or Access Point. (See my article on “Wi-Fi® – Wireless Router vs. Wireless Access Point.”)  There is another type of connection, known as an “Ad-Hoc” peer-to-peer connection which enables two Wi-Fi® capable devices to connect directly to each other without going through your Home or Office Wi-Fi® network.

Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer connections are very common with Apple Mac Computers, iPhones, and iPads.  Almost any two Apple devices will “find” each other automatically and if security permissions are not set correctly, will immediately share their resources.  This will occur regardless of if the Apple devices are connected over hard-wire Ethernet or Wi-Fi®.  Visible resources on your computer can include the entire hard drive, specific folders, external devices like printers and specifically, access to your Home or Office Wi-Fi® network – which may not be your intention – to share.

When the Ad-Hoc sharing capability of a Wi-Fi® computer or device is configured properly, it can be beneficial as it designed to allow guests to access your Printer.  In addition, Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer networking may be enabled to share a PUBLIC folder specifically to allow for the exchange of documents, photos, and files.

The security risk is that if you have a computer attached to your Home or Office network and the Wi-Fi® Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer network support is turned “On” without any security engaged, you risk unauthorized access to your files and Network.  Both Mac and Windows based Computers as well as many other Tablets, Smartphones, Printers, and Wi-Fi® enabled devices support Ad-Hoc Wi-Fi® peer-to-peer networks.  In fact, many Wi-Fi® enabled printers make Ad-Hoc connections directly to the Computer bypassing your Home or Office Wi-Fi® network completely.  Printer manufacturers do this as it eliminates the need to know your Wi-Fi® SSID (network name) and access password.  The Printer setup software takes care of creating the connection from the printer to each computer via an Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer network without any assistance from the user.

Protecting yourself and your network is easy:  Unless you specifically need Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer network support on your computer, TURN IT OFF!  The risk is not just from someone connecting to your Computer or Wi-Fi® enabled device while in your Home or Office, but anywhere.

The next time you are in a public place with many Wi-Fi® users around you, look closely at the “Available Wireless Networks” list of networks you can join.  Notice that many will say “Ad-Hoc.”  Each of these Computers or Wi-Fi® enabled devices is at risk for having almost anyone potentially access the data on the device especially if the Security options have not been properly configured.  Any network listed that has a “lock” symbol or says it is “closed” is properly secured.

To turn-off or configure Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer network, do the following:

On a Mac, go to “System Preferences” – “Sharing” and UN-CHECK all of the boxes.  If you do require sharing of resources such as Files, the DVD Drive, or Printers, then make sure to properly configure Group or User level access to these resources.

On a PC running Windows XP, go to “Network Connections” – the “Wireless Connection” – “Advanced” “Networks to Access” options and click the Radio Button “Allow Access Point – Infrastructure Networks Only.”  (This is the same general section to both create and share the Resources from your Windows XP computer via an Ad-Hoc peer-to-peer network as well as to restrict your ability to connect to one.)  For Windows 7, go to “Control Panel” and select “Manage Wireless Networks” and the instructions are similar.  Using your favorite Search Engine, use the term “ad-hoc networks Windows XP  (or Windows 7) to find numerous tutorials.

Summary:  Turn off “Ad-Hoc” peer-to-peer networking unless you absolutely need it.  If you do need it, make sure to review which resources are shared and properly secure the guest access, specific user name, or group with a strong, complex password. (See my article, “A Complex Password may not be a Strong Password.”)

Securing the Home Network – Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™

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Almost every modern day Wi-Fi® Router and Access Point supports Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ which is an optional hardware method for quickly enabling security on a Wi-Fi® network.  As you may recall, you have the option of manually naming your network with an SSID (Service Set Identifier) and specifying the specific password to be used by devices to connect. (See my article on “Securing the Home Network – Wi-Fi® Security.”)

Using the hardware based Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ can be much faster than going in to the setup pages of the Router or Access Point.  It is far simpler and easier to “press a button” than to have to navigate through the configuration screens or even use a vendor provided setup program.  This does assume that all of the Internet enabled devices that you want to connect to your Wi-Fi® network support the Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ feature.

To create a secure connection using Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™, you press a button (appropriately marked on the Router or Access Point), it usually flashes for a short period of time and then you press the equivalent Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ button on your Internet enabled device or click on a soft button in the configuration screen of your Internet enabled device. Either way, in a matter of minutes, you have created a random SSID (network name) and random passphrase using WPA2 secure encryption to create a connection between your Router or Access Point and your Internet enabled device.

An alternative implementation of the Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ is a predetermined “Personal Identification Number” (PIN) code that is usually printed on a sticker on the Router or Access Point.  If the Internet enabled device you want to connect does not have a Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™, you can enter in the PIN code from the sticker on the Router or Access Point in to the appropriate setup screen and accomplish the same automated setup.

In some cases, especially with Verizon FiOS Wi-Fi® Routers, both the SSID (network name) and Password (Passphrase) are written on a sticker attached to the Router.  No additional configuration of the Router is necessary.  You simply enter in the predefined SSID and Password to your Internet enabled device (Home Computers, Printers; Cell Phones, Tablets, Gaming Computers and other Internet enabled devices like Blu-Ray Players and Internet enable Flat Panel TV Sets), and you will be securely connected to your new Wi-Fi® network.

Security Note:  Unfortunately, in December 2011 a gentleman named Stefan Viehböck determined that the Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ PIN could be guessed in a brute force attack of a Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ Router or Access Point in an average of four hours.  This is due to a design flaw that enables an attacker to know when the first half of the eight digit PIN is correct.  Since there is no lockout after failed attempts at guessing the PIN, the attacker can more easily determine that the first half of the eight digit PIN is correct.  In addition, the fact that the last digit is checksum for the other seven digits, it takes only approximately 11,000 attempts to crack the PIN code completely.  For more details, read the United States Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Vulnerability Note: VU#72355 and Alert (TA12-006A) “Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) Vulnerable to Brute-Force Attack”

It is for this reason that CERT recommends that Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ NOT be used and that it be specifically “disabled” in the affected Routers and Access Points.  A few manufactures have corrected the design flaw and updated the firmware (programming) in their Routers and Access Points but many have not.

Keep in mind that your Wi-Fi® Router or Access Point would have to be the target of a specific attack for this to be an issue.  More likely, you would be the target of someone randomly testing their hacking skills than of someone specifically trying to gain access to your home Wi-Fi® network.  The risk of your Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™ is minimal.  To be absolutely safe, turn off the “Wi-Fi® Protected Setup™” completely and manually configure your Wi-Fi® Network Security.  (See my article on “Securing the Home Network – Wi-Fi® Security.”)

Securing the Home Network – Show me your MAC ID please

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Every network device has a MAC (Media Access Control) address.  This unique twelve hexadecimal digit identifier is similar to either a phone number or social security number for your network equipment.  No two should ever be identical.  This number is usually stored permanently in the device.  It is usually displayed on a label on the device in the form of: 00:23:6C:7F:38:43 or it can be displayed in the network information screen of the device.

If you want added assurance that only devices with “proper id” are allowed on to your Wi-Fi®  network, you can explicitly enter the MAC address of each of your Wi-Fi®  connected network devices in to your Wi-Fi® Router or Access Point, such as your Wi-Fi® (or Wired) Home Computers, Printers; Cell Phones, Tablets, Gaming Computers and Internet enabled devices like Blu-Ray Players and Internet enable Flat Panel TV Sets.

Even if a user has the proper SSID (Wi-Fi® Network Name) and Password, if the MAC address is not listed in the table in your Router or Access Point of “permitted MAC addresses” access will be denied and the device will not be able to connect.

The ability to configure MAC address restrictions is usually in the “Advanced Security Setup” area of your Router, Access Point, or Switch.  Almost all Wi-Fi® Routers and Access Points support MAC Address connection tables and restrictions.

Only higher end Wired Routers and Switches offering some form of Management have the MAC Address restriction capability.  Not to worry, the likelihood that someone you don’t know is directly plugging in via a “Wired” connection to your network in your home without your permission or knowledge is very small.

Technical Note:  In some cases, there are legitimate reasons why a network device would broadcast a MAC address different from the one permanently assigned.  This is called MAC Spoofing.  Some earlier Internet connection types required that the Cable or xDSL modem, the device that converts the signal from outside your home to Ethernet, be in “bridge” mode, or for all practical purposes, invisible.  In these situations, the Cable or xDSL modem would actually broadcast the MAC Address of your Computer instead of its’ own MAC Address.

Security Note:  MAC Spoofing can also be used for bad purposes and is not a fool proof security method.  It is just an added layer of security.  Even if you have a MAC Address permission table set for both your Wi-Fi® Router and any Access Points, almost anyone, with a reasonable amount of skill, can Spoof, or duplicate a legitimate MAC address which could allow them access to your Wi-Fi® network PROVIDED THAT they also know the correct SSID (network name) AND Password.  That is three layers of security instead of two.

In general, if you are extremely concerned about securing the access to your Wi-Fi® enabled network, setting the MAC Address of each Wi-Fi® enabled device in your Wi-Fi® Router and/or Access Points for your Primary (“Private”) Wi-Fi®  network will provide an added level of assurance that only legitimate, authorized devices are connecting to your network.  (For a discussion on Primary/Private vs. Secondary/Guest Wi-Fi® networks, see my article, “Securing the Home Network – Guest Wi-Fi® Networks”)

Securing the Home Network – Guest Wi-Fi® Networks

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The newest Wi-Fi® Routers support both a Primary “Private” and a Secondary “Guest” Wi-Fi® network.  This allows you to have two separate SSID’s, (the names of your Wi-Fi® networks), at the same time.  Specifically, the Primary Private Wi-Fi® network would be for your exclusive use and connect all of your Wi-Fi® or Wired Home Computers, Printers; Cell Phones, Tablets, Gaming Computers and Internet enabled devices like Blu-Ray Players and Internet enable Flat Panel TV Sets to each other and the Internet.

The Secondary Guest Wi-Fi® network would connect visiting Internet enabled devices, like Tablets, Notebook Computers, Smartphones, and Gaming Computers ONLY to the Internet.  After all, you have no idea where those Internet enabled devices have been nor can you be sure they have been practicing “Safe Computing” with proper Antivirus and Firewall software installed.

Guests are given a different SSID and password to access the alternate, dedicated Wi-Fi® “Internet Only Access” network in your home.  You may be wondering, “If it is a Guest Wi-Fi® network, why do I need to set a password at all?”  Answer:  You do not want to be providing “Free” Internet access to your neighbors and more specifically, anyone who just happens to be passing by.

If you already have a Wi-Fi® Router installed and it does not support both Primary Private and Secondary Guest networks, you have two options:  upgrade your Router or purchase an Access Point.  The advantage of purchasing a new Wi-Fi® Router that supports both Primary and a Secondary network is that most likely it will also be Dual Band.  This means that it operates at both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz spectrums.  (See my article on “Understanding the Wi-Fi® 802.11 Network Standard” for more details.)  The 5Ghz spectrum is less crowded and may give you better Wi-Fi® performance in your home.

If you purchase an Access Point to create a Secondary Guest Wi-Fi® network, most support the option to configure in “AP Isolation Mode.”  This means that Wi-Fi® connected devices cannot see other Wi-Fi® connected devices on the same Wi-Fi® (SSID) network but they can see all of the devices on the Wired network.   For example, with AP Isolation Mode enabled, two Wi-Fi® connected Notebook computers will not see or be able to connect to each other to share files but both would be able to see a Printer physically connected with an Ethernet (wired) cable to the Network Router.   If every device in your home is connected via Wi-Fi® to your Primary Private Wi-Fi® network, then adding an Access Point is a good solution to create a Secondary Guest Wi-Fi® network.

If you have devices in your home attached to your Primary Private Wi-Fi® Network and you also have devices connected via Ethernet (wired) cables, then you need to configure the specific physical Ethernet port that your Guest Access Point is connected to on the Local Area Network side of the Router to only connect to the Internet/Wide Area Network of the Router.  This completely isolates Guest Wi-Fi® connections through the Access Point exclusively to the Internet.  Otherwise, your Guests will be able to see any device that is connected via an Ethernet (wired) cable to your network.

Securing the Home Network – Wi-Fi® Security

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Most Cable and Phone Company Internet providers are installing Routers with Wi-Fi® capability.  Unfortunately, not all Carriers take Wireless Security seriously.  Many early Carrier Wi-Fi® Router installations did not set any network security at all.   To be fair, many early Wi-Fi® enabled Computers did not properly support the newly defined security methods so it was easier to just leave the Security Features off.  Modern day Internet Enabled devices no longer have these issues so you should make sure that your Wi-Fi® Router has its’ Security Features enabled.

Public Wi-Fi® HotSpots are great and extremely convenient.  Your Home or Office should not be one as this could allow anyone who connects to your Wi-Fi® network to potentially access your computers and their files without your knowledge or permission.

The best and easiest way to secure your Wireless Router’s Wi-Fi® network capability is to set strong and complex password [See my article on “A Complex Password may not be a Strong Password”] and to select the highest grade of encryption supported.  For most modern day Wi-Fi® Routers, that is WPA2 or WPA encryption.  Older Wi-Fi® Routers may only support WEP Encryption, which is sub-optimal as any determined hacker can break the encryption fairly quickly using readily available tools found on the Internet.

An important security tip is to make sure that the SSID, (the name of your Wi-Fi® network), does not personally identify your home or small office.  Try to select a name that completely not associated with your family, likes, favorite vacation spots or anything else that might identify your Wi-Fi® network to someone who might be trying to locate and access your network without authorization.

The logic is simple:  If the hacker cannot see or find you, it makes it that much more difficult to compromise your network.  Instead of selecting an SSID name like “Palmer-Home” select something for like “Butterfly.”  Someone passing by and scanning for Wi-Fi® Routers broadcasting SSID’s would have no reason to believe that the Wi-Fi® network named, “Butterfly” is associated with me.  (And neither does anyone reading this article at that is not an SSID that I use.)

An even more secure option is to turn off the broadcasting of the SSID completely.  To a user “Scanning for Wi-Fi® Networks”, your network will be invisible.  Anyone who wants to connect to your Wi-Fi® network will need to explicitly enter the SSID Network Name and Security Key provided by you.

 

Securing your Email – Assigning and Using a Digital Certificate for Secure Email in Thunderbird

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Thunderbird Secure EmailIn order to use a Digital Certificate for Secure Email, you need to install the Certificate in to Thunderbird.  Installing the Certificate is straightforward.  Unfortunately, to use PGP – Public Key and Private Key Encryption in Thunderbird takes a little bit of effort to setup and install.

The steps are clearly defined with Screen Shots at the Thunderbird Documentation Site:

https://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/digitally-signing-and-encrypting-messages

In short, Thunderbird uses the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) Protocol to Encrypt and Digitally Sign email messages implemented through Open Source software.  The two required components are GnuPG: (GNU Privacy Guard): a free software implementation of the commercial version of PGP and the free Enigmail Thunderbird add-on.  (An add-on is small helper application software program that “adds-on” specific functionality.)
To learn more about Public Key and Private Key encryption read my article, “Securing your Email – Understanding Public Key and Private Key Encryption.”

In the documentation referenced above, you download the appropriate version of GnuPG for Windows, Mac, or Linux, the follow the instructions for installing the Enigmail Add-on.

Next, you create your Public Key and Private Key using a Key Generation Wizard.  Then you have the option of setting your configuration to sign all of your outgoing Email with your Digital Signature or on a per message basis.  This operates pretty much the same way in every Email client regardless of vendor.

Digitally signing a messages is as easy as selecting, “Sign Message” from the NEW OpenPGP tab on your Thunderbird Menu Bar.  Same holds true for “Encrypting” a message.

As with all Public Key and Private Key encryption, when you Digitally Sign an email, you must make sure to attach your Public Key with your message. This allows the Recipient to save your Public Key so that they can encrypt an email message to you.  It also allows them to Authenticate an email Digitally Signed by you.

When you receive an email encrypted with your Public Key, you will use your Private Key Passphrase to decrypt the message and read it.  Once both you and your Recipient have each other’s Public Key’s you can start to send and receive Encrypted and Digitally Signed email at will.

The Thunderbird OpenPGP add-on makes Digitally Signing, sending and receiving Encypted Email a breeze.

GnuPG Project Information
http://www.gnupg.org/

Enigmail Information
http://www.enigmail.net

 

Securing your Email – Assigning and Using a Digital Certificate for Secure Email in Outlook

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Digital SignatureIn order to use a Digital Certificate for Secure Email, you need to install the Certificate in to your specific version of Outlook and assign it to the correct profile.  This is usually the default profile if you are the only one that uses your copy of Microsoft Outlook.

In most cases, when you retrieve the Digital Certificate for Secure Email, the Internet Explorer Web Browser will automatically store it in the Windows Digital Certificate Store for you.  Most editions of Microsoft Outlook can automatically access the Microsoft Windows Digital Certificate Store.  If for some reason the Digital Certificate for Secure Email does not properly appear visible in a version of Outlook, use the tutorials below to verify the settings.

If you used FireFox to request and retrieve your Digital Certificate for Secure Email, you may need to Export/Backup then Import/Restore the Digital Certificate for Secure Email in to Internet Explorer so that it is visible to Microsoft Windows Digital Certificate Store.

Please visit the following links for excellent tutorials on the process.

Outlook 2003
https://www.globalsign.com/support/personal-certificate/per_outlook03.html

Outlook 2007
https://www.globalsign.com/support/personal-certificate/per_outlook07.html

Outlook 2010
https://support.comodo.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=1348

Outlook Express – Versions 5 and 6
http://www.comodo.com/support/products/email_certs/oe_5_6.php

Microsoft Outlook 98 – 2000
https://www.globalsign.com/support/personal-certificate/per_outlook9800.php

Windows Mobile PDA
https://www.globalsign.com/support/personal-certificate/per_wm_pda.php

In general, to Digitally Sign or Encrypt an email message, when composing the message look under the OPTIONS tab,  – More Options, Security Settings, or Permissions – depending on your version of Outlook. There you will be presented with the option to Digitally Sign and/or Encrypt your message.

REMEMBER:  Before you can encrypt a message to a Recipient, you must have that Recipients PUBLIC key.  To exchange your key with a potential recipient, send him or her any email message that is Digitally Signed.  This message will include your PUBLIC key and for future Authentication, allow the Recipient to store your key in his or her contact list. Then, the Recipient should reply back to you with his or her Public key.  Once you have your intended Recipients Public Key, you can encrypt your email communications on a selective basis and vice-versa.
To learn more about Public Key and Private Key encryption read my article, “Securing your Email – Understanding Public Key and Private Key Encryption.”

Securing your Email – Understanding Public Key and Private Key Encryption

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Public Key InfrastructureWith Public Key Encryption, also known as asymmetric key encryption, two different keys, a Private Key and Public key are used simultaneously to both Digitally Sign and Authenticate an email message and/or encrypt it.

The Private Key and Public Key are a mathematically related unique pair of really long random that are 100% mated to each other.  The Private and Public Keys are created by using the information from your “Personal or Business Digital Certificate for Secure Email” and a “Key Generation Utility.”  The Certificate authenticates your email address and optionally your identity.  (See my article, “Securing your Email – Digital Certificate for Secure Email” for information on obtaining one.)  Note:  The Key Generation Utility is usually included as part of the Email Client Software or Web Mail Browser Plug-In.  It may not be necessary to explicitly create the key pair as it may automatic.

So, how does Public and Private Key Encryption work?  For starters, recall that the Private Key and Public key are a related pair – they work together.  Important Safety Tip:  As the names imply, the Private Key must remain private and its’ “pass phrase” (the password to use the key) must remain “private” and ONLY known to you personally.  The Public Key is widely distributed to everyone you want to communicate with so that the recipients can either Authenticate a message from you as genuine, decrypt an encrypted message you send them, or they can encrypt a message that only you can decode with your Private Key.  The Public Key can also be placed on a “Trusted Public Key Server” (think phone directory for everyone’s Public Key) so that others can look up your Public Key to encrypt messages to be sent that only you can decrypt with your Private Key.

NOTE:  For purposes of this discussion we need to assume that regardless of if you are using a Class 1 (Email Address Validated) or Class 2 (Email Address and Identity Validated) Digital Certificate for Secure Email, that YOU are the one and only person associated with your email account and that the Pass Phrase to your Private Key is known ONLY to you.  With a basic Class 1 Digital Certificate for Secure Email, ANYONE who has access to your email account and who may have requested a Digital Certificate for Secure Email without your knowledge could masquerade as you for purposes of sending Digitally Signed and Encrypted Email.

If I want to Digitally Sign an email message so that a recipient will have a high degree of assurance that I was the actual sender of the message, similar to when I have a paper document Notarized, I use my Private Key along with my Public key to tell my Email Client to “Digitally Sign” the message.  I then attach my Public Key with the message as I send it to the recipient.  The Recipients’ Email Client uses the attaché Public Key to process my Digital Signature and verify that the Digital Signature is Authentic and Genuine.  (Recall when I have a paper document Notarized, a licensed independent third party Authenticates my signature by reviewing other Identity documents.  This is similar to what a Certificate Authority would do when issuing a Class 2 Digital Certificate for Secure Email.)

You may be wondering, “How is this any different than if I just sent a regular message since I included the Public Key, the part required for the recipient to authenticate the message?”  The answer is that when I Digitally Signed the message with my Private Key, I had to enter in my super-secret, ultra-secure “pass phrase” known only to me.  The Private Key and Public Key are a mated pair that must be used together to be of any value.  Since only my Public Key can be used to authenticate a message that I personally, Digitally Sign, the message has to be authentic and sent by me.  Assuming that the Recipient uses either the Public Key that I sent along with the message or retrieves my Public Key from a Trusted Public Key Server, the message can be authenticated as legitimately Digitally Signed by me.

Technical Note:  The Email Clients are performing a massive amount of mathematical calculations in the background creating hash totals and checksums which are shorter strings of numbers that represent the original extremely long numbers to expose tampering.  It is possible that the body text which is not encrypted in a Digitally Signed Message could be altered in transit.  The message would still correctly show the Digital Signature as “Authentic” however the “math” would also show that the message had been altered from its’ original content.

To Encrypt a message requires one extra step:  Before I can send a recipient an encrypted message, I need to know their Public Key.  My Email Client software will use the Recipients’ Public Key to encrypt the message.  Then, the Recipients’ Email Client will use the Recipients’ Private Key to decrypt the message.

Taking it one step further, if I use my Private Key and the Recipients Public Key at the same time, I can both Digitally Sign the message and Encrypt it so that the Recipient can Authenticate that I actually sent the message with my Public Key and Decrypt the message with the Recipients Private Key so only the Recipient can read it.

The best way to get started in using Digital Signatures and encrypting email, when appropriate, is to obtain a Digital Certificate for Secure Email and then send a Digitally Signed message to people you want to be able to communicate with securely.  (See my article, “Securing your Email – Digital Certificate for Secure Email” for information on obtaining one.)  Since your Public Key is automatically included in your Digitally Signed Message, the Recipients’ Email Client will automatically store it so that it can be used to either decrypt messages sent by you or encrypt messages that are sent to you from the Recipient.

Note:  If you are not using Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes, you will need an “Add-on” application for your email client or web browser.  Options will be discussed in a future article.

Securing your Email – Digital Certificate for Secure Email

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HTTPS SSL Computer CubeA Digital Certificate for Secure Email enables you to digitally sign your email and authenticate that the message was actually sent from your email account.  Optionally, you can also encrypt the email message to secure it against unauthorized viewing.  (Encryption of email will be discussed in a future article.)

A Digital Certificate for Secure Email is issued by one of the well-known Certificate Authorities, the same group of companies that issue SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificates that encrypt web browser communications.  (The “lock” in your browser when connected over HTTPS:// )

A Class 1 Certificate requires only that you enter your First Name, Last Name, Email Address and a pass-phrase which secures the Certificate itself from unauthorized use or for revocation if the Certificate is compromised or lost.  The only Authentication performed is that the email address submitted is valid and that you have access to that email account to retrieve the Certificate.  It is important to note that the Certificate is ONLY validating the existence of the email address.  Anyone who has access to the specific email account can request a Certificate and can most likely use it to authenticate a message sent from that specific email account.  This is critical to understand if you share your email account with others.

For many non-business users, a Class 1 Certificate is adequate and available at no cost from a Comodo, a Certificate Authority Provider.  (There are a few other free providers but none as quick or as easy to use as Comodo.)   Most people have an email account that they do not share and that is properly secured with a strong password.  (Well at least they have an email account they do not share.  Not everyone follows good password creation guidelines.)  The point being that if you send an email message to jason@palmer.net  confidence is high that I am the only one sending and receiving mail from that account.  In fact, the entire point of using a Digital Certificate for Secure Email is that you as the recipient could immediately tell if the message was sent from the real jason@palmer.net email account (most likely me if a Class 1 Certificate and definitely me if a Class 2 Certificate) or if it was spoofed.  (There are other ways of determining a Spoofed email, specifically by reviewing the Full Headers of the Message and spotting inconsistencies in the email addresses and Servers.)

For added assurance, you may want to consider a Class 2 Certificate whereby you need to provide the Certificate Authority with proof of identity, such as a Government issued ID (Driver’s License, Passport, Passport Card, Birth Certificate, or similar).  A Class 2 Certificate validates both the email address and that you are its’ owner and a real person.  Email signed with a Class 2 Certificate is similar sending over a notarized document.  An independent third party has verified your identity so when you use the Certificate a certain level assurance can be assumed by the recipient that you are the actual, legitimate sender of the message.

Class 2 Digital Certificates for Secure Email come in two flavors:  “Personal”, that specifically identify you as an individual and “Business”, that specifically identify you and that you are a legitimate employee of a specific company.

You may be wondering, “Wow, this sounds great!  Why isn’t everyone using a Digital Certificate for Secure Email on every message?”  The answer would be because it is a little cumbersome to setup and use.  First both you and everyone you want to send and receive mail from need to obtain his or her own Digital Certificate for Secure Email.  Next, you need to configure your email client to work with the Digital Certificate for Secure Email.  This is relatively straightforward in Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or Lotus Notes.  Not quite as easy for Web Mail Users of Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, and similar services as it requires a plug-in or extension installed in the web browser. (A plug-in or extension is a specialized helper application that enables additional features and capabilities in your web browser.)

If the recipients’ email client is properly configured to understand a Digitally Signed email message, when you send a Digitally Signed Message, the recipient will see a notation on the email that the message was Digitally Signed.  However, if the recipients email client is not setup properly, the recipient will see an additional text attachment to your message that is meaningless and contains the Digital Signature Information.  This can become very annoying to your recipients as every message would you send them would have an attachment.

Securing your email all starts with either a Class 1 or Class 2 Digital Certificate for Secure Email.  At least visit Comodo below and start with a FREE Class 1 Digital Certificate for Secure Email, and then tell all of your friends to do the same.  A Class 1 Digital Certificate for Secure Email takes only minutes to request and install, they are valid for one year, and are available free of charge

Stay tuned and read my future articles on how to implement Secure Email Communication for transmission of sensitive and confidential information over the wild Internet through Email.

Important Technical Note:  Make sure that you use the same computer and web browser to request and access the retrieval of Digital Certificate for Secure Email.  You will also need to make sure that Java is enabled and that your web browser accepts Cookies to complete the process successfully.  The Certificate is actually being created and added to your web browser’s certificate store, and then you have to export it for your specific email client.  Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook do not require this step as they both can access the same Certificate Store in Windows.  Firefox and the Thunderbird Email client or Lotus Notes might require some additional steps to configure properly.  Instructions are provided by both the Certificate Authority and your Email Client Vendor.

Digital Certificate for Secure Email Authority Vendors:

Free Class 1

Comodo – FREE AND RECOMMENDED CHOICE
http://www.instantssl.com/ssl-certificate-products/free-email-certificate.html

Symantec TrustCenter – FREE (Not as fast or easy as Comodo.)
https://www.trustcenter.de/RetailStore/cid/CustomerData!input.action

StartSSL – Free but cumbersome to apply for and install
https://www.startssl.com/?app=1

CACert – Free and very cumbersome to apply for and install
https://www.cacert.org/

Paid Class 1 and 2 Personal and Business
NOTE:  There is no reason to pay for a Class 1 Certificate.  Use the Free options above.

Comodo – Business Class 2 Certificates – Value Priced Leader
http://www.enterprisessl.com/ssl-certificate-products/addsupport/secure-email-certificates.html

*Prices and Features vary widely with Vendors listed below – Read Carefully before purchasing.

GlobalSign – Personal and Business Class 1 and 2
https://www.globalsign.com/personalsign/comparison.html

IdenTrust – Personal and Business Class 2
http://www.identrust.com/certificates/trustid.html

Symantec TrustCenter – Personal Class 2
http://www.trustcenter.de/en/products/tc_personal_id.htm

Symantec TrustCenter – Business Class 2
http://www.trustcenter.de/en/products/tc_business_id.htm

Symantec/Verisign – Personal Class 1
http://www.symantec.com/verisign/digital-id