I have not yet read the book only the first few pages but I think it is a good book which can make you understand how electronic mail is sent and who can have access to it.

Joe Montesin

This is a great book if you want to understand the history and background of email encryption and a good place to get started on PGP & GPG email. A good overview is great if you need to explain the importance to a client.

This is a concise introduction to email encryption for people who don't care about prime numbers. It nicely covers all real-life topics users of PGP and GPG are likely to be interested in. Two problems: First, there is a substantial number of typos, as if the book had never been proofread. There is a significant error in chapter 4 -- if you follow the instructions for generating new keys using the command-line (Unix) version of GPG, you will end up with un-usable keys (without subkeys). Accept all default values and you will have no problems. Second, since the book covers several specific versions of PGP and GPG, the user of any specific version will only use 50% of the book at best (and the book is a slim one to start with). As a result, this book should be considered as a basic introduction only, to be read once and never looked at again.

This book is an excellent reference of cryptography. It combines PGP and GPG, two very interesting software to information security.

Pretty Good Privacy and Phil Zimmerman are computer counterculture legends. By putting secure communication into the hands of anyone with a computer, Zimmerman both launched a revolution and stirred the ire of the U.S. government. After suffering under -- and prevailing over -- severe FBI harassment and malicious prosecution, Zimmerman and his open PGP encryption tool have demolished government attempts to control cryptography. After sixteen years, PGP still has no equal as an enabler of private communication.

This book focuses on the use of PGP as an email encryption tool, although PGP can be used as a general purpose file encryption utility as well. After summarizing the history of PGP and the Open PGP standard, author Michael Lucas clearly and concisely describes how public key encryption with Open PGP can secure routine email messages. This is a how-to guide that gives you the essential understanding you need to quickly make practical use of PGP and its non-commercial cousin Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG).

Lucas' exposition explains PGP better than any previously published treatment -- either in print or online -- I've read. If you need to encrypt, you need to encrypt with PGP. Which means you need this book.