PGP is a popular solution for encrypting, decrypting, signing, and verifying messages and files, often found in email communications and package repository identity verification ( because security matters).
Never put any sensitive information in the subject line.If you don’t already know what Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is you may have heard of PGP before, perhaps during a discussion on how to secure your communications, or perhaps in one of those how-to maintain privacy guides. Note that PGP encryption does not encrypt the subject line of an e-mail. They will not be able to see the content of the e-mail until they decrypt it using the private key. Composing a PGP encrypted e-mail using Apple MailĪfter sending the e-mail to someone, it will look like this. This means that the message will be encrypted with the public key you’ve generated. Once the keys are generated, you will see a lock icon in the subject line, when composing a new message in Apple Mail. It also integrates automatically with Apple Mail. This application will generate and manage your public and private keys.
If you are using a Mac computer, you can download the GPGTools. One particular tool that works very well is Apple Mail. They all have different ways of setting up PGP encryption.
There are plenty of software tools that implement the OpenPGP standard. Once you receive an encrypted message, you use your private key to decrypt it. You would send the public key to all your friends so that they can encrypt sensitive messages that they want to send to you. You have a public key (to lock/encrypt the message) and a private key (to unlock/decrypt the message).
That way, only the person who needs to get the content of the box has the key that allows them to unlock it. The second key will only be able to open the box. The first key will only be able to lock the box. By keeping a copy of a key that can unlock the box, you are creating a vulnerability.įinally, you found just the right solution: you’ll have two keys. You, as the sender, will never need to open the box again after closing it. What if you meet your friend in person to share the key beforehand? That could work, right? It could, but then both of you have a key that allows to unlock the box. You decide to put a key lock on the box, but you realize that you have to send the key along with the box. You then put the paper in a box and send it by mail.Ī thief can easily steal the box and look at the paper that contains your credit card information. Imagine you want to send your credit card information to a friend and you write it on a piece of paper. PGP is very easy to understand, on the surface.
It is another software tool that implements the OpenPGP standard. Today, PGP is “owned” by Symantec, but OpenPGP, an e-mail encryption standard, is implemented by multiple software. Zimmermann got into trouble with the US government in 1993 because PGP travelled international waters and reached a vast number of countries around the globe, violating US export restrictions for cryptographic software. He was an anti-nuclear activist, and wanted a way to transfer information securely over the Internet. What if somebody else sees the bank information I’m sending? Or even those dank memes that should not be spoken of?įortunately, there’s a pretty good solution to this problem: Pretty Good Privacy (PGP).Ī software engineer named Phil Zimmermann created PGP back in 1991.
Sending sensitive information through the internet is always nerve-racking. By Radu Raicea How Pretty Good Privacy works, and how you can use it for secure communication Image credit: Mr.