Understanding GPG/PGP for normal people!

What is a GPG/PGP key, it sounds scary!

We have found that the easiest way to demystify PGP is to show people what a key looks like. It is just a big jumble of letters and numbers in a block of text, and not scary at all!

For example, here is the Public Key of our Chief Security Officer:

Anything encrypted with this big block of letters and numbers can only be decrypted with its pair, the Private Key. I was going to paste our Chief Security Officer's private key here but he thought that would be a bad idea and said no. I'm kidding of course, the private key is very precious and should be stored and used according to good security practice. His is excellent. Take my word for it though, if you squint while looking at them you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

OK, so how do I create and use these keys?

If you own a cat, by now you're probably thinking the above looks familiar and there may actually be a method to their antics. There isn't. Not even a trillion cats sitting on a trillion keyboards... So you'll need some software.

If you are using a Mac, you can download a great set of tools from https://gpgtools.org/. It's quite easy to create keys and encrypt/decrypt/sign etc.

If you are using Windows, please see the attached help file to download and install GPA from http://www.gpg4win.org/.

Alternatively you can use a command line interface but I'm guessing if you're reading this you won't be using that.

Hold on, you just said 'sign'! What's that?!

OK, well as an example, if our Chief Security Officer 'signs' a message, it means his private key has been used and I can be sure that message has come from him, because I know he's very careful with his private key.

So what's a fingerprint for?

Public keys should really be exchanged over secure-ish channels. You can upload them on Basecamp when you start (it's https://) or if you're really keen upload them to a keyserver. Our CEO's is http://keyserver.linux.it/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x6C4A99C2505975CF. However, unless you are face to face exchanging keys, you should verify that the Public Key sent is the Public Key received. Why? Because of the potential for a man or woman in the middle intercepting the Public Key and pretending to be either party for ever more. Reading out the fingerprint on a phone call, and making sure the fingerprints match is a very effective way to prevent this from happening.

I forgot my password!

'There's a password too?' Yes, this is the last line of defence for your private key - the algorithm builds your password in, a bit like a check digit or the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle. If you lose your password the keys are dead forever. However, do not fear as this is not the end of the world. Simply create a new set of keys (guess what, they're free!), follow the process to share the Public Key all over again and the person sending you the valuable stuff (us) can encrypt said stuff again with the new Public Key and send it to you.

What's the difference between PGP and GPG?

Don't worry there's no reason to know, just that they're interchangeable and kind of mean the same thing. However, this is hopefully so easy you're going to use GPG (or PGP) for every message you send! Please do, security is important and actually, the people behind these projects are fascinating and well worth a bit of extra research to find out more about.

I'm obviously not normal, I still don't get it!

Don't worry you're in good company - and honestly it took me a while to get this at first. Please email us at support@waysact.com and someone will happily call you to talk you through it.


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