Tester Keyring

PGP is a hybrid cryptosystem which means that it uses both symmetric as well as asymmetric encryption. Let me explain

There are two types of encryption

Symmetric encryption

If I send a you a secret letter about which we have agreed that every alphabet needs to be replaced by the previous 3rd one, then when I write SECRET , I would make S V, E H, C F and so on resulting in VHFUHW. When you get the letter, you would reverse each alphabet with previous 3rd one giving you the word SECRET. You see, the same key is used for both encrypting and decrypting. If the letter gets into some wrong hands, it will make no sense to him unless he knows the key that we have agreed upon.

Asymmetric encryption

Asymmetric key has two keys private and public. Anyone possessing private key can decrypt data encrypted with its corresponding public key.

How GPG works

GPG makes use both encryption methods. It encrypts a text with a key generated with mouse movements and keyboard strokes and attaches the key with the message so the reciver can use it to decrypt the text. But isn't stupid to attach the secret key with text which is like writing the agreed upon key 3 inside the letter in the symmetric encryption example above. No, it is not. Because the key is also encrypted with the public key. When the receiver receives the text, he decrypted the key with private key and then use that key to decrypt the actual message.

In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to protect your sensitive data by encrypting using openGPG.

GPG maintains three files beneath each user's home directory under ~/.gnupg. They are:

1. secring.gpg contains secret key

2. pubring.gpg contains public key

3. trustdb.gpg maintains trust-levels i.e. web of trust of keys in public key ring

Creating Keys

The following command is used to generate the keys. It prompts us for a couple of questions.

gpg -gen-key

gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.6; Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it

under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.

Please select what kind of key you want:

(1) DSA and Elgamal (default)

(2) DSA (sign only)

(5) RSA (sign only)

Your selection? 1

DSA keypair will have 1024 bits.

ELG-E keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.

What keysize do you want? (2048)

Requested keysize is 2048 bits

Please specify how long the key should be valid.

0 = key does not expire

= key expires in n days

w = key expires in n weeks

m = key expires in n months

y = key expires in n years

Key is valid for? (0)

Key does not expire at all

Is this correct? (y/N) y

You need a user ID to identify your key; the software constructs the user ID

from the Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:

"Heinrich Heine (Der Dichter) "

Real name: Test User

Email address: testuser@linuxgravity.com

Comment: This is a test key generation process

You selected this USER-ID:

"Test User (This is a test key generation process) "

Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? O

You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.

You don't want a passphrase - this is probably a *bad* idea!

I will do it anyway. You can change your passphrase at any time,

using this program with the option "-edit-key".

We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform

some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the

disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number

generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++.++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.+++++

+++++++++++++++.++++++++++..++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++>++++++++++

.............................+++++

We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform

some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the

disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number

generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.

..++++++++++.++++++++++++++++++++...+++++

.+++++++++++++++++++++++++.++++++++++++

++++++++.++++++++++..+++++.+++++++++++++++

.++++++++++....++++++++++.+++++..+++++.+++++>.

++++++++++>.+++++.>+++++..............................................

..............................................................................................................

...+++++^^^

gpg: /home/testuser/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created

gpg: key 6A62309F marked as ultimately trusted

public and secret key created and signed.

gpg: checking the trustdb

gpg: 3 marginal(s) needed, 1 complete(s) needed, PGP trust model

gpg: depth: 0 valid: 1 signed: 0 trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u

pub 1024D/6A62309F 2009-08-19

Key fingerprint = FB4D 4DC7 B093 3714 B507 CD9F F1C0 27B5 6A62 309F

uid Test User (This is a test key generation process)

sub 2048g/7CB6CABD 2009-08-19

Listing Keys

gpg -list-keys

/home/testuser/.gnupg/pubring.gpg

-----------

pub 1024D/6A62309F 2009-08-19

uid Test User (This is a test key generation process)

sub 2048g/7CB6CABD 2009-08-19

Let's explore the output we previous command

pub means its the master public signing key

1024 is length of the keys

D tells us that it is DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm), used for siging

6A62309F is unique key ID

2009-08-19 is the date when the signing master key was created

uid shows an identity tied to the master public and sub-keys

sub indicates that the key is subordinate key. It's used for encryption

2048 is number of bits in the encryption

g - ElGamal used for encryption

7CB6CABD is unique key ID

2005-08-21 is the date when the encryption key was created

To list secret key

gpg -list-secret-keys

/home/testuser/.gnupg/secring.gpg

-----------

sec 1024D/6A62309F 2009-08-19

uid Test User (This is a test key generation process)

ssb 2048g/7CB6CABD 2009-08-19

Importing and Exporting Keys

To ouput armored or ASCII of public key to the screen

gpg -a -export

To dump the ASCII of public key to a file, use -o

gpg -o filename -a -export

Note: After import/export have been performed, encrypts/decrypts/signings/verifications can take place

To confirm the fingerprints of the keys

gpg -fingerprint keyID

(gpg -fingerprint 7CB6CABD)

Encryption

GPG supports both symmetric and asymmetric encryption. In the following example, we will encrypt some text and then send to our partner who will decrypt it with the key we will share with him

echo "This is a very secret message" > secret_file.txt

Now we need to encrypt secret_file.txt. It will ask me for a passphrase we need to put in twice

gpg -c secret_file.txt

Enter passphrase:

This is will result secret_file.txt.gpg. If I cat this file, I will see gibberish

cat secret_file.txt.gpg

??

??P?G:?=B

Amjad Saleem
For more articles at http://www.linuxgravity.com
Follow me on: twitter.com/linuxgravity

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