Knowledgebase: PGP
What
exactly is PGPMail?
Pretty Good™ Privacy (PGP), from Phil's Pretty Good Software, is
a high security cryptographic software application for MSDOS, Unix, VAX/VMS,
and other computers. PGP allows people to exchange files or messages with
privacy, authentication, and convenience. Privacy means that only those
intended to receive a message can read it. Authentication means that messages
that appear to be from a particular person can only have originated from
that person. Convenience means that privacy and authentication are provided
without the hassles of managing keys associated with conventional cryptographic
software. No secure channels are needed to exchange keys between users,
which makes PGP much easier to use. This is because PGP is based on a
powerful new technology called public key cryptography. This is an ADVANCED
feature for ADVANCED users only. In other words, you must KNOW what you
are doing to work with this feature. Our support team DOES NOT provide
technical support or instruction on this feature, AT ALL. Please contact
an EXPERIENCED PGP programmer for assistance on this feature
How
do I use PGP?
In order to use PGP Mail you must have SSL. You must create a key using
the following instructions:
1 - SSH into your account.
2 - Run the command "pgpk -g". This will prompt you for the
following information:
*Choose the type of your public key.
1. DSS/Diffie-Hellman - New algorithm for 5.0 (default)
2. RSA Choose 1 or 2: -"Select RSA"- *Pick your public/private
keypair key size.
1. 768 bits- Commercial grade, probably not currently breakable
2. 1024 bits- High commercial grade, secure for many years
3. 2048 bits- "Military" grade, secure for the foreseeable future
Choose 1, 2 or 3, or enter desired number of bits
(768 - 2048): -"A key of 1024 bits is more than enough, select that".
*Enter a user ID for your public key.
The desired form for this user ID is your FULL name, followed by your
E-mail address enclosed in , if you have an E-mail address.
For example: Joe Smith > If you violate this standard, you will lose
much of the benefits of
PGP 5.0's keyserver and email integration. Enter a user ID for your public
key: -"Fill in the appropriate info"-
*Enter the validity period of your key in days from 0 - 999.
0 is forever (and the default): -"Enter 0 if you want this key to
last forever"-
*Choose a pass phrase to protect your private key(s).
Your pass phrase can be any sentence or phrase and may have many words,
spaces, punctuation, or any other printable characters. Enter pass phrase:
-"Fill in a good passphrase that you are sure to remember"-
3 - Run the command "pgpk -xa userid -o public.key" (userid
refers to the user ID on step 2) This will produce a file called "public.key".
*You can also download pgp from and create a keyset on your home computer.
Once this key set is created, you can start encrypting files on from SSH.
1. SSH into your account.
2. Run the command "pgp -r userid file -o file.pgp" ("file"
refers to the file you wish to encrypt). This will produce an file"file.pgp"
with the encrypted content of "file".
How
do I get PGP?
A freeware version of PGP can be obtained from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. MIT distributes PGP Freeware without cost for personal,
non-commercial use. To obtain a copy of PGP for commercial use, we recommend
http://web.mit.edu
The United States Government has placed certain restrictions on the export
of crytographic software, so, if you live outside of the Unites States
and Canada, you may need to get PGP from the href=http://www.pgpi.org
target=sources>PGPi Project. PGPi also has a good collection of PGP
FAQs for those interested in learning more about PGP. These files may
be distributed as compressed zip files, in which case you may need a program
like Winzip for decompression
What
is the path to PGP?
pgp: /usr/local/bin/pgp
What
version of PGP is installed on the server?
PGP 2.6.2
How
do I add PGP to my domain?
1 - Login to your online control panel.
2 - Click PGPMail.
3 - Follow instructions.
© 2003 Burningbulb.net |
