email Crypto

[Donald Ramsbottom]

SNIP
>I am a practising lawyer, and have found PGP entirely satisfactory.
>Key-generation may be slow for a large key, but you don't do that very
>often.  Encrypting, decrypting, signing and verifying are more or less
>instantaneous for files of any normal size (say up to 300 kb). 

All my files (every letter and document is held on my system) when sending
instructions to counsel or when detailing many other matters to the client,
or the court, it is often necessary to send large volumes of data,
especially when scanned documents are held as *.jpg files (for later
archiving purposes). This means that it it is by no means unusual to have
5-10MB worth of attachments, and their may well be 150+ individual
documents, this complexity and the need for the other end to be able to
decode means that simple "one touch" solutions are a boon as we all know
time is money! Once assembled the actual nitty gritty is usually delegated
to a member of my staff who may or may not be tech oriented.
>
>Encrypting files as attachments is very convenient (no need to zip as PGP
>compresses), and encrypting emails seems totally straightforward.

I do zip up big files, but as I said before this all takes time.
>
>I have never found it technically challenging (it's a good deal simpler to
>install and customise than a wordprocessor, in my experience).

True.
>

>I use a different but similar application, and I think you would have to
>create a new container and add just the files you want to send.  But since
>you also have to send, securely, the passphrase for the container, you need
>something like PGP for the message.  And if you have PGP, it makes better
>sense to use that for the files.

I thought so, see above for problem.

Thanks for the input.

Donald Ramsbottom LL.B, BA (Hons).

RAMSBOTTOM & Co. Solicitors

Internet Law & Global Cryptology Law Specialists