Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)

What is PGP?

Pretty Good&3153; Privacy (PGP), from Phil's Pretty Good Software, is a high security cryptographic software application for MSDOS, Unix, VAX/VMS, and other computers. PGP allows people to exchange files or messages with privacy, authentication, and convenience. Privacy means that only those intended to receive a message can read it. Authentication means that messages that appear to be from a particular person can only have originated from that person. Convenience means that privacy and authentication are provided without the hassles of managing keys associated with conventional cryptographic software. No secure channels are needed to exchange keys between users, which makes PGP much easier to use. This is because PGP is based on a powerful new technology called public key cryptography.

Using PGP

In order to use PGP, you will first need to create a key set.

1. SSH/TELNET into your account.
2. Run the command "pgpk -g". This will prompt you for the following information:
   
   
   *Choose the type of your public key.
   
   1. DSS/Diffie-Hellman - New algorithm for 5.0 (default)
   2. RSA
      Choose 1 or 2: -"Select RSA"-
   
   
   
   *Pick your public/private keypair key size.
   
   1. 768 bits- Commercial grade, probably not currently breakable
   2. 1024 bits- High commercial grade, secure for many years
   3. 2048 bits- "Military" grade, secure for the foreseeable future
      Choose 1, 2 or 3, or enter desired number of bits (768 - 2048): -"A key of 1024 bits is more than enough, select that".
   
   
   
   *Enter a user ID for your public key.
   The desired form for this user ID is your FULL name, followed by your E-mail address enclosed in , if you have an E-mail address. For example: Joe Smith If you violate this standard, you will lose much of the benefits of PGP 5.0's keyserver and email integration. Enter a user ID for your public key: -"Fill in the appropriate info"-
   
   
   
   *Enter the validity period of your key in days from 0 - 999. 0 is forever (and the default): -"Enter 0 if you want this key to last forever"-
   
   
   *Choose a pass phrase to protect your private key(s). Your pass phrase can be any sentence or phrase and may have many words, spaces, punctuation, or any other printable characters. Enter pass phrase: -"Fill in a good pass phrase that you are sure to remember"-
   
   
   
   
   
3. Run the command "pgpk -xa userid -o public.key" (userid refers to the user ID on step 2) This will produce a file called "public.key".