/pgp/ - Pretty Good Privacy

What is PGP?

Encryption technology that's good enough for Edward fucking Snowden. In short, it's a way of ensuring that messages can only be read by the person they're intended for.

How does it work?

PGP encryption consists of two parts. A public key and a private key. The public key is meant to be shared, as somebody needs it if they want to send you a message only you can read. The private key never leaves your system.

Secure?

As hell.

Spies hate him! Use this one weird trick!

Where do I get it?

Macfags: http://gpgtools.org, or install gpg from homebrew/macports
Linuxfags: Install gpg (gpg, that is not a typo) from your favorite package manager.
Winfags http://gpg4win.org or http://www.gpg4usb.org


How do I use it?

We'll continue as if you're using the command line.

You need to make a key first. This is simple as:

gpg --gen-key

and answering some questions. You'll be asked for a name and email. You don't have to use real info here, but choose something you like because you can't change it later. The name will be used by everyone else when they want to write you a secure message.

A note: If you will be sharing messages on image boards (a great place, mind you), decide how long you want your key to be. A 4096 bit key might be super secure, but it also means you'll run into post limits on most boards. Choose carefully.

A key is a bunch of random data. Usually you'll see keys and messages as a bunch of noise - they're base64 encoded (or "ascii armored").

Now, you need to post your public key. If you do a:

gpg --export --armor (part of the name you chose earlier

you'll get a blob of text back that starts with "BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK". Copy that and paste it here, including the begin and end bits. Remember that when you're sharing keys and messages, you always need to include the begin and end lines.

How do I encode/decode shit?

You need a public key for the person you wanna send a message to first. Once you've found their key, copy it, do:

gpg --import

..and paste it in.

Now you want to write them a message. Do:

gpg --encrypt --armor --recipient (name on their key)

Note: double check this part. If you have two people's keys with similar names, either enter a distinctive part of the name, or use their key ID instead.

Someone sent you a message? Copy it, run gpg --decrypt, paste it in.

Those are the basics!