What else can I do to improve the security of my communication?

1. After having encrypted your plain source file, don't just "delete" it, but use the Shredder - function to completely remove its contents from your hard drive.

2. Do not inform your friend about your key by email or fax. Preferably, tell him about it when meeting him in person. Or, if you absolutely have to use electronic means of communication, then at least do not call the key The Key like: "this is our secret key we're gonna use from now on". Just send a plain piece of data (an excerpt from a novel, for instance) that looks quite inconspicuous.

3. Some attacks are programmed to go through all words first that are common in a specific language. Therefore one might consider to use a string of random characters as a passphrase (like "kjfuftufpo89796göäjü9uu g7it8}&/$%58508"), rather than regular words taken out of the English vocabulary. However, this is not recommended to those who don't want their password to look like a password or to those who rather be able to memorize it.

4. Do not leave your key on your hard drive. Preferably memorize your key entry. If it's too long (or made of a string of random characters) and you have to save it somewhere, save it on a portable data storage device and stash it away. Likewise, never name the file with your key in it "My Key" or "My Password".

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