(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2) Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501 Sponsored by Vangard Sciences PO BOX 1031 Mesquite, TX 75150 There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS on duplicating, publishing or distributing the files on KeelyNet except where noted! March 2, 1994 HOW_PGP.ASC -------------------------------------------------------------------- This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Ken Wells. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bert Pool's PGP cookbook: PGP has great encryption software, but the documentation does NOT present the "how to" in a very useable order. All the instructions are in there, somewhere, but the information is NOT ordered so that you can "abc" it and DO something! Below is my PGP cookbook, with four basics steps to setup PGP so you can send and receive encrypted data. Enjoy. -------------------------------------------------------------------- In order to use PGP you have to, in this order: a) create a secure "private" key - this is your unique secret key phrase and file that only you know. Never ever write down down your pass phrase. Never ever forget it. Make it something very complex that you can remember. b) create a "public" key file which OTHER people will use to encode messages and files which they will send to you. You will make this key file available to everyone who might need to send you a secure file. c) You need to receive other PGP user's public keys and store them on your key ring. d) You will use a person's public key to decode a message or file that they have sent you. PGP does other fancy things, and I won't get into those. Below are details of the minimum basics: a & b) To create your private and public keys, type "PGP -kg". Follow the on screen instructions. Select the military grade of encryption from the menu. Sure, it will take longer for PGP to generate you a military grade encryption key, but it will be a SECURE key. If you tire of waiting, then go fix yourself a cup of cocoa. I like to put those teeny marshmallows in mine. You will be asked for your name. Enter first, middle initial, last. Don't just enter "Bob Smith". There are going to be hundreds, thousands of Bob Smith's out there. Make it so that Page 1 your friend in lower Slobovia who wants to send you a secure document can pick you out of a list of many Bob Smiths without a lot of guessing. If you have a net i.d., you can tack the i.d. onto the end of your name (pgp will give you an example). You will be asked to enter a pass phrase. Make it long. Make it complex. Make it something not even your mother could guess. Do NOT make the stupid mistake of using your birth place, social security number, date of birth, parents names, spouse name or birth date, your kid's names, etc. DO NOT WRITE IT DOWN, EVER. DO NOT STORE IT IN YOUR COMPUTER, EVER. You are making it up, so you should be able to make it something you can remember. Make it something you will never ever forget. If you forget it, no one can help you. You will be doomed to receive documents and files that you can never decrypt and read. You will be miserable. Anyway, from this pass phrase entry work, a public key file and a secret key file will be produced. Your SECRET key file is NOT to be given to anyone. Keep it secure. ***** Do not save it in a networked p.c.! ***** Keep it on a diskette, which you keep in a very safe place. Personally, I hide mine between the plastic wrapped cheese slices in my 'fridge - but my wife has gotten used to my little idiosyncracies like this..... Your public key file will be placed in a file called "pubring.pgp". You may copy your public key off of this ring to a different file which you may send to your friends. See step "d" below for specifics on this. Your secret key file will be put on a secret ring, in a file called "secring.pgp". This is the file that you want to keep very secure. c) Adding someone's public key to your public key ring: Example: Bob sends you his public keyfile on a diskette. You pop the diskette into your p.c. and do a dir on the diskette and you see a file "bobsmith.pgp". You wish to add this public key to your public key ring (pubring.pgp) so that you may encode files that you may wish to send Bob. To add his key to your public ring you type: "pgp -ka bobsmith.pgp pubring" His key will be added to your public key ring. You may now encode files using his public key. Only Bob Smith will be able to decode the file you send him (assuming someone at his house has not eaten a bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese and secret diskette sandwich). To COPY your public key from your public key ring to a file that you send to your friends, type: Page 2 "pgp -kx userid keyfile pubring" Example: You will replace "userid" with your name (remember entering your i.d. back in step a?) You will replace "keyfile" with any name which you wish to use for your public key file name. My name is Bert Pool, so I logically named my public key file "bertpool.pgp". You can call it anything you want - but I already have dibs on "bertpool.pgp". Make it some name that your friends will recognize. When I created a copy of my public key which I uploaded to Keely Net, I typed: pgp -kx "Bert" bertpool.pgp pubring A file containing my public key was created, called bertpool.pgp. Your friends will add your public key to THEIR key rings using step c, above. They will use it to encode messages sent FROM THEM TO YOU. You will use your SECRET key ring and secret pass phrase to decode any such files sent to you by your friends. d) decoding a file sent to you Bob sends you an encrypted file called "payroll.pgp". Obviously it contains sensitive information (executives get real nervous when payroll information might accidently become available to the masses), and so it was encrypted with YOUR public key. You run to your fridge, dig through the cheese, and ferret out your secret key ring disk, and pop it into your p.c. (after wiping off the mustard, of course). You type "pgp payroll.pgp -o payroll.txt". PGP will decrypt the encoded file payrollpgp and produce a decoded file called payroll.txt. PGP comes with a file called PGP.HLP which is a very nice list of all the PGP command options. You probably need to print this out and keep it handy for reference, especially if you ever need to do one of the upmteen special things that PGP does so well. Bert Pool -------------------------------------------------------------------- Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet -------------------------------------------------------------------- If we can be of service, you may contact Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 3