Today the Thunderbird project is happy to announce that for the future Thunderbird 78 release, planned for summer 2020, we will add built-in functionality for email encryption and digital signatures using the OpenPGP standard. This new functionality will replace the Enigmail add-on, which will continue to be supported until Thunderbird 68 end of life, in the Fall of 2020.

For some background on encrypted email in Thunderbird: Two popular technologies exist that add support for end-to-end encryption and digital signatures to email. Thunderbird has been offering built-in support for S/MIME for many years and will continue to do so.

The Enigmail Add-on has made it possible to use Thunderbird with external GnuPG software for OpenPGP messaging. Because the types of add-ons supported in Thunderbird will change with version 78, the current Thunderbird 68.x branch (maintained until Fall 2020) will be the last that can be used with Enigmail.

For users of Enigmail, Thunderbird 78 will offer assistance to migrate existing keys and settings. We are happy that Patrick Brunschwig, the long-time developer of Enigmail, has offered to work with the Thunderbird team on OpenPGP going forward. About this change, Patrick had this to say:

“It has always been my goal to have OpenPGP support included in the core Thunderbird product. Even though it will mark an end to a long story, after working on Enigmail for 17 years, I’m very happy with this outcome.”

Users who haven’t used Enigmail previously will need to opt in to use OpenPGP messaging, as encryption will not be enabled automatically. However, Thunderbird 78 will help users discover the new functionality.

To promote secure communication, Thunderbird 78 will encourage the user to perform ownership confirmation of keys used by correspondents, notify the user if the correspondent’s keys change unexpectedly, and, if there is an issue, offer assistance to resolve the situation.

It’s undecided whether Thunderbird 78 will support the indirect key ownership confirmations used in the Web of Trust (WoT) model, or to what extent. However, sharing of key ownership confirmations made by the user (key signatures), and interaction with OpenPGP key servers shall be possible.

If you have an interest in seeing more detailed plans on what is in store for OpenPGP in Thunderbird, check out our wiki page with more information.