Topic: How To Do PGP Encryption

[Weisshaupt]

Okay, so sadly it looks like we are going to start needing this- lest something we say be misconstrued.  Also somewhat scary is that PGP  is now owned by Symantec and they no longer offer a freeware version.  The command line version is still available and there are several good shells to use it with.

I am using one called Cryptophane and its download and use was pretty straight forward.

Download and install
Navigate to the "Keys" pull down and choose "Generate Secret Key"
It will prompt for name, email address and a pass phrase ( not a pass word - this can contain spaces)  The  Usual strong password rules should be followed.
Once you key is created, you can go to "Export Public keys" under file and export the public key as a text file.  Then Post the text to this thread.  Now people can send PGP encrypted messages to you.
But say you want to message someone else?  Copy the PGP public key text from this thread and  into an empty text file. Save the text file as <name>.asc where name is any legal character string - like weisshaupt.asc   You can then go the File menu and import that key. Now go back to keys, choose the new file  and "sign selected key" - you will be prompted to enter your pass phrase from above.

You can now select "message" from the file pull down, type in whatever you want to send,  pick that key off the recipients list and then encrypt the message.  You can then send that block of text anywhere - In private Messages here, in regular email, or even post them here ( you should probably leave a clue as to who they are for)

Given the worsening political environment I highly recommend setting  this up with Family members and friends as well. Obviously you don't have to use it all of the time, but for anything you don't want intercepted ( or more accurately intercepted easily)  encrypt it.  There are of course rumors that the US can crack it, even easily.  There are rumors of back doors as well.  So yeah, they might be able to , who knows.  Point is, its better than nothing. If it slows them by an Hour and uses up resources that is something. Plus the more people who use it casually, the harder for it is for them to decide what messages need decoding. 

There are other versions that can encode directly from Firefox or Chrome with Gmail - problem being that Google, data vacuum that it is, saves copies of your drafts while you are working, so even though you hit encryption before sending, Google has a nice plain text copy of it. Better than nothing, but...


Below is my Personal Public  PGP Key.  I will award high praise first to send me a message with it? (and you are disqualified if you already have your own public key... )
                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                       
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (MingW32)
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=kHtw
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

[Alphabet Soup]

Have you ever worked with GPG? I understand that it is open source and based on the same algorithms as PGP.

[Weisshaupt]

Have you ever worked with GPG? I understand that it is open source and based on the same algorithms as PGP.

ah..  GPG seems to be GnuPG.org: The GNU Privacy Guard  - which is the freeware commandline version this tool ( and most others) use now.
My understanding is its still just  1024 bit PGP under the hood

[charlesoakwood]

That's really, really... I know every word you wrote but understand not what you said... then the audacity of offering high praise ::gasp::.  Welp, it's certainly something I need to learn.  

[Weisshaupt]

That's really, really... I know every word you wrote but understand not what you said... then the audacity of offering high praise ::gasp::.  Welp, it's certainly something I need to learn.  

That utility actually has a pretty good primer in the help section as well. Download it. Give it a try. High Praise is on the line...

[charlesoakwood]

 "...and export the public key as a text file.  Then Post the text to this thread."

  I did so however, where did it go? It wasn't in the created folder, it wasn't at the email address.  It was by the book till the public key as a text file could not be found.

[Weisshaupt]

 "...and export the public key as a text file.  Then Post the text to this thread."

  I did so however, where did it go? It wasn't in the created folder, it wasn't at the email address.  It was by the book till the public key as a text file could not be found.

When doing the export of the public key, did you verify that you check box  selected the key in question?  Also very the directory.
Also it will be saved with an extension like .ASC or .GPG  so if your text editor is looking for only .txt files, it won't find it - it needs to be set to all files  or *.* (you should also be able to find it in the directory listing, riught click and chose "open with"  to tell Windows you want to use a text editor to look at it.

[AmericanPatriot]

I know such things exist  about what you're talking about but I will have to remain silent.

I am neither a rocket surgeon nor a brain scientist

[trapeze]

Mac version?

[IronDioPriest]

I don't have a clue what you guys are talking about.

[Weisshaupt]

Hey Trap,

don't know anything about it, but this looks promising for your Mac. Should be similar..

[Weisshaupt]

For everyone who is confused: Pretty Good Privacy  ( PGP) was developed by a guy who wanted to ensure free, private communication over pretty much any network. The ACTUAL  Math is well beyond me, but  basically you create this mathematical "Key" - it is then broken into two parts. One part is shared and is called the "public key" - and others can use it to encode messages to you - but it can't be used to decode them. (If that makes no sense to you.. then good. It makes no sense to me either... )  You use the second half of the key, the "private" key to decode a message someone has sent to you using your public key to encrypt it.  Basically all modern cryptology  uses this key exchange or something similar - Secure websites ( https), secure telnet (ssh) , secure sockets (TLS)  and so on.  

I believe the government can probably crack it - but it takes about $10 million in computing power to do it, and the time and resources to brute force it. So its it worth doing for every message they see? I doubt it.  Of course, they could have found some mathematical flaw they can exploit to decode them in seconds, and there are rumors that NSA forces all versions of code ( and the compilers )  to force a back door into it so NSA can decode it.  (That would be very, very unlikely. )  Bottom line, if we learn to use this, we can send messages to each other that NO ONE can intercept without a good deal of trouble.  Since the Govt massive "look at every packet" system is soon to be live, and since the government has basically announced its going to look for any little thing it can use to persecute conservatives ( Look what he wrote. He must be nuts. He believes in Liberty over personal safety!. Take his guns. Take his Kids.  Put him in a rubber room. )  it may be prudent to learn how to use this so we can when we feel we need too.  We could also have a IAL shared key- so you could just post something encrypted and all those in the know can read it-- but not the govt ( providing that no one here is a already a  mole.  ) .  But we can't have a shared key till we have some encrypted way of sending it around.  

Of course once you know how to use it here and with us, you can use it with other family and friends.

[trapeze]

Hey Trap,

don't know anything about it, but this looks promising for your Mac. Should be similar..

Downloading it now.

EDIT:

Okay, downloaded and installed. Not sure what to do with it, though. I will try reading the instructions tomorrow and maybe it will be clearer.

[Libertas]

I learned my lesson with my Linux fiasco, that being I am computer-impaired, this looks even more daunting to me.

[Weisshaupt]

I learned my lesson with my Linux fiasco, that being I am computer-impaired, this looks even more daunting to me.

Really, you are just learning to use an APP. I would pace it to be about  as hard as learning how to properly import a text delimited file into excel, ro to use some of its more esoteric functions.
Not easy, easy. But the you get through the process once then its easy sort of easy 

[Glock32]

Come on people, high praise is on the line!

[charlesoakwood]

PGP, no praise yet, but some difficulty.  It's not over.
Then, there is thumb booting.
And now, from a commenter at Zero, privacy