Ciphire Accounts
In the Accounts window you will see a list of your secured email accounts.
You can add and remove email addresses using the Add and Disable buttons below
the account window.
Add
- Click the [Add] button. A dialog window opens asking you to
enter the email address you want to secure.
- Enter an email address and click [OK]. The window closes
and you will see an animated icon in your system tray. Further a tiny status
pop-up might appear.
- The Ciphire System will now create a DSA, a RSA and an ElGamal key in
sequence. The process ends with the message Sending certification
request….
The new email address is added in gray color to the list of
already secured addresses in the Accounts field.
- When the key creation is terminated, an information message appears, asking
you to check your email to see if you have received an email which is an
essential part of the creation of your account.
- Click the [OK] button in the message window and check if
you have received a new email. The first email will inform you that the Ciphire
system is processing your certification request. After you have received this
first email wait a few minutes and check your email again. A second email will
arrive that confirms the certification was successfully completed and your email
account is now secured. You will see the email account in black in the Accounts
field.
While the key creation and subsequent certification is in progress the new
entry appears gray and in italics. During the key creation and certification the
status on the right will change from Certificate in creation... to
Active certificate and the email account itself will turn black in
normal typeface.
Disable
- Select an email address in the Ciphire Accounts window.
- Click [Disable]. A dialog box appears.
- Click [Yes] in the dialog box. The Ciphire account for that
email address is now being disabled.
- A pop-up will appear asking you to check your email.
- Click [OK] and check your email to see if you have received
a confirmation mail stating that the certificate for the email address selected
in step 1 was successfully removed from the Ciphire Certificate Directory.
Attention!
After disabling your Ciphire account you will no longer be
able to sign or encrypt emails for this account.
Import
With the Import option you can load account data to the Ciphire Mail user
directory. (eg. at C:Documents and Settings/[your personal
folder]/Application Data/Ciphire).
- Select the email address for which you want to import the related acaccount
data.
- Click the [Import] button..
- Choose the file you want to import and click
[Open].
- Enter the passphrase to decrypt the file.
This is the same passphrase
that was used to encrypt the file when it was exported.
Export
- Select the account you want to export in the Ciphire Accounts list.
- Click the [Export] button. A file dialog pops up.
- Select a directory, folder or storage device where you want to store the
account data.
- The system suggests to name the file after the account, - you may as well
overwrite this with a different file name.
Click
[Save].
- Enter a passphrase of at least 8 characters to encrypt the file (to protect
it in case it gets lost or stolen while being moved over to a different
computer).
- The account data of the selected email address is stored in an encrypted
file ready to be moved to a different machine. (See Import for further
details).
Security Strategies
You can change the default security strategies for every email address listed
in the Ciphire Accounts field. You can conveniently select different strategies
from a drop-down list. To change the encryption strategies, just click the black
arrow in the top field and scroll to the preferred option. For changing the
signing strategies, pick a strategy from the bottom drop-down menue. The
following options are available:
Refuse
unencrypted |
Choosing this option, Ciphire Mail ensures that every single mail leaving
your mail tool is encrypted with the certified public key (certificate) of the
recipient. This means that if the recipient does not have Ciphire Mail installed
or does not have a valid certificate stored in the global Ciphire Certificate
Directory, the email will not be transmitted. |
Never encrypt |
If this strategy is selected, NO email sent from your mail account will be
secured by encryption using Ciphire Mail. Emails will be sent in plain-text and
will be vulnerable to any wiretapping. |
Try to encrypt |
Choosing this configuration, Ciphire Mail will attempt to secure all
outgoing emails, provided the mail client finds a valid certificate belonging to
the dedicated recipient(s) in the global directory. Recipients who do not have
an active certificate in the directory will receive all emails unencrypted.
|
Warn if unencrypted
|
Same as above. Ciphire Mail will attempt to secure all outgoing emails of
the selected account. If the Ciphire Mail is unable to locate a valid
certificate for one or more of the dedicated recipients, the software will warn
the sender with a message saying to which recipient the email will be sent
unencrypted. |
Never sign |
Emails leaving your mail tool will NOT be digitally signed. This means the
recipient cannot be sure that you sent exactly that email. Nor can you or the
recipient prove the exchange of that email to any third parties. |
Always sign |
Emails leaving your mail tool will be automatically digitally signed. The
recipient of the email can be sure that you sent exactly this email and both,
you and the recipient can prove to third parties that this email communication
took place. |
Default
The Ciphire Mail client is installed with the following default strategies:
- Try to encrypt
The software tries to digitally encrypt
every outgoing email with the recipient’s certificate.
If Ciphire Mail
cannot detect a certificate that matches the recipient’s email address, it will
send the email unencrypted.
- Always sign
Emails sent with the options set to this
choice are signed with the sender’s private key. This means that the recipient
can be sure that the email actually originates from the sender.
The signature
of the email allows you and the recipient to proof to third parties that exactly
this email has been exchanged.
Change Passphrase
During the installation of Ciphire Mail you have been asked to choose a
passphrase.
To change this passphrase after the installation, please follow
the steps below:
- Click the [Change Passphrase] button. A dialog window
appears.
- Enter the old passphrase in the first line and the new passphrase below. For
security reasons the characters you type are represented by placeholders
(xxxxxx) and you cannot verify if you entered them correctly. Therefore
you are asked to retype the passphrase.
- Click [OK].
If both entries of the new passphrase
match, the new passphrase will be replaced by the old passphrase.
Individual Recipient
Strategies
In addition to the generally applied security strategies you can define
encryption and signing options for each recipient separately. Click the button
[Individual Recipient Strategies]. The Individual Recipient
Strategies window opens. Here you can define individual encryption and
signing strategies for each recipient.
- In the Encryption tab, enter a recipient's email address
and click [Add].
The new recipient appears below.
Repeat
the process for each recipient for whom you would like to have individual
encryption strategies.
- Select one of the recipient addresses you have just added. The selected
address is highlighted.
- Open a drop-down list under Strategy and choose how you want Ciphire Mail to
handle emails sent to the corresponding recipient.
- When you have made your choices for each of the recipients in this window
click [Apply] - the changes are made, your option window stays
open - or click [OK] - your changes are made and the option
window closes.
- Click the Signing tab, enter a recipient's email address
and click [Add].
The new recipient appears below.
Repeat
the process for each recipient for whom you would like to have individual
signing strategies.
- Select one of the recipient addresses you have just added. The selected
address is highlighted.
- Open the drop-down list under Strategy and choose one of the email signing
options (Do you want Ciphire Mail to automatically sign all emails sent to this
recipient or not?).
- When you have made your changes for each of the recipients in this window
click [Apply]- the changes are made, your option window stays
open - or click [OK] - your changes are made and the option
window closes.
Appearance
Checkbox: Display status pop-ups
If you enable this option Ciphire Mail will display a small window in the
lower right corner of your screen while performing actions. This window will
inform you about the operational steps Ciphire Mail performs.
Checkbox: Animate Tray Icon
If you enable this option the Ciphire Icon in your traybar will display
specific animation reflecting the operations Ciphire Mail performs.