My Experience with Issuing an S/MIME Certificate, Publishing GPG Keys, and Setting Up Keybase

Securing my email communication has been an important step in my tech journey. In this post, I’ll share my experience obtaining an S/MIME certificate from Actalis, publishing my GPG key to a keyserver, and setting up a Keybase account for cryptographic identity verification.

Issuing an S/MIME Certificate from Actalis

S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) allows me to encrypt and digitally sign my emails. I decided to get a free personal S/MIME certificate from Actalis to improve my email security.

How I Got My Actalis S/MIME Certificate:

  1. Visited Actalis: I went to Actalis’ website and found their free S/MIME certificate section.
  2. Registered for a Certificate: I entered my email address and followed the instructions.
  3. Verified My Email: Actalis sent me a confirmation email, which I had to click to proceed.
  4. Downloaded and Installed the Certificate: After issuance, I downloaded the .p12 certificate and installed it in my email client (Thunderbird, Outlook).
  5. Configured My Email Client: I imported the certificate and enabled digital signing and encryption for outgoing emails.

Publishing My GPG Key to a Keyserver

GPG (Pretty Good Privacy) is another way to encrypt and sign emails. I wanted to make my public GPG key available so that others could verify my emails and send me encrypted messages.

Steps I Took to Generate and Publish My GPG Key:

  1. Generated a GPG Key:

    gpg --full-generate-key
    • I selected RSA (4096-bit recommended).
    • Set an expiration date (or chose no expiration).
    • Entered my name, email, and a strong passphrase.

  2. Exported My Public Key:

    gpg --armor --export MY_EMAIL > mykey.asc

  3. Published It to a Keyserver:

    gpg --send-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com MY_KEY_ID

    I replaced MY_KEY_ID with my actual key fingerprint (I found it using gpg --list-keys).

  4. Verified the Upload: I searched for my email on Ubuntu’s Keyserver and confirmed that my key was publicly available.

Setting Up My Keybase Account

Keybase is a great platform for verifying identities and securely sharing cryptographic keys. I wanted to establish my online identity and link my cryptographic credentials in one place.

Steps I Took to Set Up Keybase:

  1. Signed Up: I created an account on Keybase.io.
  2. Verified My Online Identities: I linked my GitHub, Twitter, and other accounts to prove my identity.
  3. Imported My GPG Key:
    • I went to my profile settings.
    • Selected “GPG Keys” and uploaded my public key.
  4. Used Keybase for Secure Messaging: I explored Keybase’s encrypted messaging, file sharing, and team collaboration features.

Conclusion

By obtaining an S/MIME certificate, publishing my GPG key, and setting up Keybase, I’ve taken important steps toward improving my email security and online identity verification. These tools make encryption practical and accessible, allowing me to communicate more securely.