HW1 | Intro to Usable Sec. and Priv. (Fall 2025)

HW 1: Usable Encryption and Secure Messages

In this homework you will perform a diary, reflection study while attempting to send encrypted emails.

Submission is due to Blackboard as as single PDF.

Step 0: prepare

This is a journaling/diary study exercise so you should prepare for that first. You should record the following information as part of your quest to complete this problem. You should have sections in your diary entry for each of the following information.

  1. Any google/search queries you perform, with a brief description of your thought process when searching
  2. Any web-sites you opened, the url with a brief explanation
  3. Any tools you installed/uninstalled and the context for selecting that tool
  4. Your exploration of using that tools, the correct and incorrect commands you tried and the context of those commands
  5. Any confusions or questions you had while using the tool
  6. The steps you took in completing the task?
  7. Finally, provide 3-to-4 paragraphs (with multiple sentences per-paragraph!) that is a full narrative, from start to end, in completing this task, as if you were relaying the story to someone in a documentary movie entitled “I sent an encrypted email.”
  8. Include the secret message your received in the reply.

Essentially, try and record yourself as you do this and describe your entire process so that someone else can review your process and understand your thought process.

Add these details as part of your diary entry.

Step 1: send

Investigate an email client that will enable you to do PGP/SMIME email. Install it and generate a PGP public/private key. I have already done this and my public/private key pair for PGP email. My PGP public key for this exercise is below.

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
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=Huqz
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Send me an encrypted message that contains the answers to the following questions:

  1. What is the name of the secure email client you used to complete this task
  2. How many secure email clients did you try first?
  3. Was this easy or hard? Explain.
  4. Attach your public key so I can send you an encrypted reply.

This email should be sent aaviv@gwu.edu and it should ALSO be signed by your public key. Use the following subject line

HW 1: Encrypted Message: [Your Name]

Where [Your Name] (including ‘[’ and ‘]’) are replaced with your first and last name.

Did you remember to attach your public key to your message so I can send you an encrypted reply?

Step 2: receive

As part of the email you send in Step 1, or as a new email, send me your public key for your GWU email address (or another email address of your choosing). I will then send you an encrypted message containing a secret message. The message should be both encrypted and signed by the public key above. Put that secret message as part of your submission.

Did you remember to check the signature of the message I sent to you in my reply?

Step 3: reflect

Compete your diary entry as part of your submission.