There are two reasons why you may want to change your key.

(A) Your key may be compromised (e.g. your laptop computer containing your key is stolen or an unprotected export file is lost).

(B) You want to use a different key size or a different algorithm (the current version supports only one algorithm - RSA, but future versions may add more algorithms).

To change the key associated with your email address:

(1) Select "EaSecure Key Manger" under the "Tools" menu to start the EaSecure Key Manager.

(2) Select the email address whose key you want to change and click the button.

(3) Enter your current password. If you have entered your password correctly, the following dialog box will appear:

(4) Select the algorithm and key lengths for both signing key and encryption key and click the button.

(5) Enter a new password (twice) to protect the new key and click the button.

After these steps, a new key will be generated to replace your old key. The password protecting the key will also be changed if you have entered a different password. Your old keys are still kept in your key file for opening old EaSecure messages, but they are protected by the new password. You can use your new password to open both old and new EaSecure messages and send out new EaSecure messages.

Please note: Your key will only be changed on the computer you performed the key change with. If you use EaSecure on more than one computer, you need to export your changed key to other computers. Otherwise, you will not be able to send EaSecure messages or open new EaSecure messages on your other computers. It is also important that you should create an export file containing your new key and put it in a safe place as a backup copy of your keys.

Please also note: Your old public key may be stored on the computers of your correspondents for up to 7 days, and therefore, within 7 days of changing your key, you may continue receiving messages encrypted by your old key. You will have no problem opening these messages, because you still have your old key. However, if you want your correspondents to immediately use your new key to encrypt messages sent to you, you should send an EaSecure message to all your correspondents who have communicated with you recently (within 7 days). When your correspondents open your message, the key stored on their computers will automatically be updated to your new key.