On Fri, 10 May 2002, Pete Milne wrote: > This may not be the place for this but I will try anyway. I am > needing to start using it. This is totally new to me. I have looked > at a few sites regarding it but they are a little too deep at this > time.
A good question to start... is why do you think you need to start using it? > I see people here have their key on the emails they sent. Can > someone explain how this process works and why the key would be out > in public view...or does it matter? With PGP, there are two types of keys (If I remember correctly). A public key, which everybody can have access to. This public key is used to encrypt data with the target audience being you (if only your public key was used). The other key is your secret key. This is kept to yourself (again, if I remember correctly, although Gnupg seems to allow exporting of secret keys). This secret key is used to decrypt your data, providing your password matches. You often find people signing their emails, so you can guarantee the email is from the source it claims to be from. PGP also includes functions like signing files, which creates a special signature for that file, onto which is tagged your public key. Together they reduce the ability to allow third parties to alter the file without the recipient knowing. They can use PGP to verify that the file has not been changed using the signed file. I personally don't use the PGP that comes with TB! as I have been running PGP as a stand alone program for years. -- Jonathan Angliss ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ________________________________________________________ Current Ver: 1.60i FAQ : http://faq.thebat.dutaint.com Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives : http://tbudl.thebat.dutaint.com Moderators : mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] TBTech List: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Bug Reports: https://bt.ritlabs.com
