What is Gpg4win?

What is Gpg4win?

Gpg4win (GNU Privacy Guard for Windows) is an email encryption software. It is the result of a project initiated by the Federal Office for Information Security, and includes the following components: GnuPG: its key component, the encryption software
GPA: GNU Privacy Assistant,

a key manager
WinPT: Key Manager, which also supports encryption via your Clipboard
GPGol: a plugin for Microsoft Outlook which integrates the operation of GnuPG
GPGee: a plugin for Windows Explorer which allows encryption of data by right-clicking on your mouse
Claws Mail: a complete email program with integrated GnuPG operation
The encryption program GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard) provides you with a secure, simple and free method of email encryption. It can be used privately or commercially without restrictions. The encryption technology used by GnuPG is extremely secure and cannot be broken using current technology.

GnuPG is a free software³. This means that anyone can use the software for private or commercial purposes, as well as analyze or change the source codes (ie. the actual programming commands), and distribute the same.⁴

The transparency of the source code forms an essential part of a security software, as it is the only way to verify the trustworthiness of the program.

GnuPG is based on the international standard OpenPGP (RFC 2440), is fully compatible with PGP and uses the same infrastructure (key server etc.). Since GnuPG version 2 the cryptography standard S/MIME (CMS/RFC 3852 and/or X.509) is also supported.

PGP ("`Pretty Good Privacy"') is not free software; many years ago it was available on a temporary basis under similar conditions as GnuPG, but is no longer considered state-of-the-art.

Additional information regarding GnuPG and other projects undertaken by the german government in the area of Internet security can be found on the website of the Federal Office for Information Security www.bsi-fuer-buerger.de

What is Gpg4win?