Desktop Email Encryption

When I try to use PGP Desktop to decrypt the encrypted email, I just get empty email or empty email with 0 byte size attachment and the attachment can't be saved. I confirmed with the sender the email is not empty. How can I solve this problem?

Thanks,

A couple pieces of information from you would really help here.

1.) What version of Symantec Encryption Desktop are you using? (or PGP Desktop)

2.) Does the attachment also show in PGP Viewer?

3.) If you Right click the System tray icon for Symantec Encryption Desktop, and choose to "Exit PGP Services" -- then restart outlook and take a look at the e-mail... Do you still see a 0 byte attachment, or do you now see some other attachments?

4.) Do you have any e-mail correspondants who send you e-mails with X509 Certificates? This can interfere with the handling of the e-mail attachments.

Additionally, if you have SEP (Symantec Endpoint Protection -- antivirus) the following may apply

• File attachments with unicode characters in their filename are stripped of content when Outlook Email Autoprotect is enabled. http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH105799

Please answer the above questions. I will look for your response and attempt to assist accordingly. Those questions will certainly help narrow the scope / cause of the problem. A second screenshot of what the e-mail / attachments look like in outlook would help us narrow the scope of the issue as well.

Best Regards,

Phil

1) The Symantec Encryption Desktop version is 10.3.2 MP7[Build 16127]

2) The attachment shows in PGP Viewer but can't be downloaded.

3) When I exit the Sysmantec Encryption Desktop and restart it, then try to decrypt the code, something happen as the following,

  a) I got a empty email (no attachemnt shows in PGP Viewer) when I tried to decrypt the code at the first time

  b) I always get a empty email with a 0 byte size attachment (except the first time),  and I can't see any other  attachment.

4) I don't have any email correspondants who send me emials with X509 Certificates.

5) I am not using Symantec Endpoint Protection, I am using McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.8.

Thank you.

Thank you for answering my questions. 

From what I have found online, it looks like McAfee VirusScan Enterprise has an e-mail scanner. There is a chance that it could be altering the attachment, or blocking it. If that is the case, Symantec Encryption Desktop will not be able to handle it properly.

* If you are certain that the attachment is safe, I would recommend attempting to open the attachment with the antivirus disabled.

Additionally, one of my previous suggestions may not have been followed all the way. Please try once more to access the e-mail / attachment with PGP Serivces disabled. Again, you can do this by right clicking the Symantec Encryption Desktop lock icon from the lower Right corner of your screen ( System Tray ) 

Please see the Image below for a screenshot of the area where you can exit PGP services.

After Exiting PGP services, and Symantec Encryption Desktop, please try to open Outlook and view the attachment. If it asks you to start PGP Services, please choose no. This is important so we can test to see if the problem is related to Symantec Encryption Desktop -- or if something else is modifying the attachment. Please send over a screenshot of Outlook during your testing. Thanks :D

Thank you for your assisant.

Maybe I didn't say the problem clearly, I don't think the problem is the Outlook or McAfee. Please let me describe the problem again.

1) I got a piece of encrypted code which starts with --BBEGIN PGP MESSAGE-- and ends with --END PGP MESSAGE. This piece of code is what I need to decrypt.

2) When I try to open the email ( saved the code as .eml file ) with Symantec Encryption Desktop, SED lets me put the passphrase, after put the passphrase I got screenshot1. When I try to open the email with SED again ( not the first time ), I got the screenshot2. Whe I try to  download the attachment I got the screenshot3.

Does this issue only happen with e-mails that have been saved as .eml ? 

Does the issue only happen with files that contain the word "message" in the filename?

--There was once a bug where PGP viewer would only show 0 bytes if you had the word message in the filename.

--Try also renaming the file to .pgp then opening it.

Does the behavior also happen when opening an encrypted e-mail directly within outlook?

Have you tried copying ciphertext (entire text from --BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-- to --END PGP MESSAGE--)to the clipboard and then attempt to decrypt from the clipboard via the system tray icon?

Please also review the PGP Log by right clicking the system tray icon and choosing "View PGP Log". Please copy and paste any relevant entries after trying to view the file.

Best Regards,

Phil

P.S. those last couple screenshots you uploaded appear as low-resolution thumbnails only.