Protecting only ONE email acct in Thunderbird

I've read a few suggestions & posted on Mozilla's forum & KB on how to protect email in only ONE acct in Thunderbird. No suggestions. So far, most methods aren't good if other users have administrative privileges, etc, or aren't secure at all, or are bit of a pain.

I'm not worried about the CIA - just keeping personal medical correspondence, etc., out of view. Most messages won't be stored in the email client for long.

Could use an encryption app (like TrueCrypt), but never used one. Read the manual - seems like a bit of trouble for this. How / where is the key stored - that is, unless you want to type it in every time?

Suppose I could just not d/l the msgs for the private acct into T-bird, and only access the acct by webmail, entering (but not storing on PC) the password manually. Then delete msgs off the server.

Maybe there are easier / more practical solutions?

Thanks!

 

Hi phkhgh

Keep things simple please.

With Tb you may installed Enigmail extension to encrypt all your emails.
You want to protect your privacy and this is correct but do it the right way:

Encrypting the mails locally with TrueCrypt or any other encryption software is not enough... The email communication also must be protected and the most simple way is to use Enigmail for all your emails.

That way the mails are protected locally and in the transmission between your PC and the other PCs...

Suggestion for Enigmail:

1- Create a key set for a short time say a month (not a year and not for ever)
2- Don't forget to create a certificate to revoke your key set and make a copy of this on a USB Key for example...

Link for Enigmail extension: http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

 

Thanks Climenole for the suggestion.

I'll check out the extension. And it sounds like it might be great to use. But...

That solution sounds anything but simple - not that it's not appreciated.

 

If I am not mistaken, I believe you could place Thunderbird and Firefox inside a USB key and use it as a portable/secure access point for your mail/web surfing.

You could also encrypt the entire USB key first, then place the applications inside the container.

So for someone to access your files/e-mail, they would first acquire the USB storage device and then provide the proper password/key. Furthermore, you could create a hidden container, so even if a person broke into the container, they wouldn't find much(unless they know of the hidden container).

 

Thanks KC,

Will definitely look into T-bird portable, since never have.

Does the "portable" refer to ability of that version to operate on a USB drive (for instance) vs on a laptop?

 

Yes
Portable Apps