What is PGP, Anyway?
Most of the references below give very good explanations of PGP, and I’m a real beginner myself, so I’ll try to make mine quick and easy. PGP is a cryptography program written by Philip R. Zimmermann. It’s designed to give private individuals access to an element of computer security. How Does it Work? Check references if you want a technical explanation. I’ll just try my hand at explaining how you use it. There are two basic ways – encryption and signing. PGP Keys Using PGP you generate two "keys", a public key and a secret key: • Requires PGP to use • Should be made widely available • No password required • Encodes private messages to you • Recognizes your signature • Requires PGP to use • Should be kept secret • Password Protected • Decodes private messages to you • Generates your signature The keys are generated together, as a matched set. How secure the key pair is depends on their complexity, which you choose when you create the set. The more "bits", the more secu
