Tonight’s adventure is going to be understanding how to encrypt stuff using my public key, and then how to unencrypt it.
Here’s my RSA public key:
PuTTY-User-Key-File-2: ssh-rsa Encryption: aes256-cbc Comment: My first key Public-Lines: 4 AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABJQAAAIBv67wL6ms9S2VKS7FzAKzkU7ikhcbA/W8G7mas OLT50qFCyPdoh1hlK18Vg/3okbhVybqQmXFKT6jH6+gzRc6yZvUw7rqjAk+j8BMR nAOVJSr2+YXeJk3OHbcdao83mOKDN/QfV2IsoAYdbEyVtCLRII47tflA/kKDdflH OfZQbw==
I generated that with puttygen. I use it fine on my server, but I’ve no idea how to use it for anything else. Nor even if I should be.
From there, I’ve really no idea what to do next…
Turns out, ssh-rsa might not be what I want, but I’m going to stick with it. I found an article on public key encryption that looks helpful, but still a bit over my head. I’m tired now though, so I’m going to bed. I’ll look into it again tomorrow.
Just stumbled upon the manual for GPG, which I guess I should be using, maybe? I’ll read it later.
Linux systems get it built into gedit. Pfft.
Hokay! So, that was the wrong key. I’ve made a new one:
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (MingW32) mQGiBEk4LOwRBACLWXX5sPiOB+siESXP4yrqkxXRiaI0B+7i2hbdhhgOEWuhIWHX ZoU/DkbcqoECBNX5gsrPxuMugtLwG7wuQqHAMhOpvxmKp3JiJu9VRp5FTE3bKOOy UP/FsqQcIPb2Ja2pVZYphTZKqzRHubbks/FQj82W6tRKvAlRzOkT8QnYGwCg+yhb GRzwotgkTSgbdTbx9mU5+pMD/jRQqvdDQKwD7Ggidx07q62l+Kp26v7AelnCn9Gk FQXbPUDF6jYwjkhuFySGQE5yTxaEN/kKYLcdLFQua+gT+trJglD5bbGUVWozLP47 CM1rCqGB+onD8i95CS0xzLOECpE8FinYHNlYMNHfMvLCEtDWD/1i4JDZYG904Sxh tKBlBACFURBqSvN7XoLWkpmQzpoRaGQMSsTn6ADtN4PMKfiq2GnBqFUvIDmwK0uY Gyq70Z0q0FUIiBS/jk/PIdv3cC+tHGrIXOE3Pu7onV0czjLMs57j7rMlSdYbFpSZ vLX+fyufugHbl/2GLDQz43b+OncdXnzbYIEgcO4qN72KCbIOQbQ8U2hhbmUgUHJl ZWNlIChGaXJzdCBEU0EgYW5kIEVsZ2FtYWwga2V5KSA8c2hhbWVzc0BnbWFpbC5j b20+iGAEExECACAFAkk4LOwCGwMGCwkIBwMCBBUCCAMEFgIDAQIeAQIXgAAKCRAt 8a+vr0tSdZz8AJwOmIaasZDgxI78U41YAP5GVSDuAwCfUPNVdjdWVada3p0wOGN2 2Nx1gIq5Ag0ESTgs7BAIAKdUDwhjVZjhYr9jWctbSaOUzMAgJCckMeuZANHLj8ZQ zUXYdM7UvrQFBSMEMINKs2kgrhVIBwQyNDtfHlhGemLMY+LupUD8G3o1K1oMFPE6 fJKtV4YN1c8FiBoQs32aIvtmu6HrlPwSLSGjoCI4VjZM1Uf7yZyO6qMk5Blqh/U5 CicDtbGSHirnAy4hHIsMB+Isph7gegz6bmbDXw0poHeZTepey6IqFTiEZW690IYT ykbVjx62RzP3mqQbL6LPW79V7lbXEMzRzSg9X0SSjHxgA3GF+IQm/VIp7Ryfbbd+ BjZUiaHVLSTcKMMWXLo5wvEXGrm750MkKiPyLC2UTvsAAwUH/0bAJZNtt6WLwdsh uALOeT8/USAYig3EEFE9u/Q1My7e9MprPbWkaJQOgVjlR3azZvu41rHUfVmsfJMF 2OhTV/qA5R/tz+TK5W08RRZCqWRuy8+ywSYAk0U16MIO58HoXZ6U50zS0EviyBVY z/8OgBgHFEJNcZwdf/lC7oZd49XGFTRwCp/bIcpv5sLTxrrMPqed9LuSP6HmhiZk 4rm+6+BY5MWvLhs4Dq6ZbpAgEuabT90J2Ry6QgBGKP6yj8il/eD0ASXDe2RdseGz RRoGPWWCpd50zZBdpSNP67S5esGKnJXiEe35hkxPwIiasaz0G6j/ftTiCW/35JiI mXkSsnSISQQYEQIACQUCSTgs7AIbDAAKCRAt8a+vr0tSdWnyAJ91k7o7nZ1pCiwZ nQF9po9GTctfbACfRIH9OV1qxBfaG4lxBEC3XdZtcvc= =sYo5 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Now, I’m working out how to encrypt something.
Huzzah! Done it! So, I have a text file I want to encrypt, textfile.txt which just has “Hi there” in it. Do this to encrypt it, with my own public key:
C:>gpg --armor --encrypt --recipitent shamess@gmail.com textfile.txt
That should output the encrypted text in ASCII to STDOUT, which for my key is:
-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (MingW32) hQIOA6g4L8dw7u8pEAf/U7GPg5yRFj6gW1j+UYaRETaooe32o/a4Go7pTLM76Z1x 8a/RjVsl27sbpTT7k21MvBigoasbjncT6LjkHmDjsUEtMJ1F1RvG/hrloZB7ZGYD ZjYN7sVqw4K87qVIPjRejB1wofm6TjuohJ2FAA7ObxUQ0rdP/ENPiUkdntxng4ew pQrQbl25/Dz9A0VBLzdW+045/nKcMvA4iqsKC3DiF8AmY7IhmOWqZvxwdcahQODe iaqKLKEbqbKdj7Bocb0C1MUJMij54eYxU83LyvjhVZuejsmh7yrH1GXzwIhDuwbW Qd8uQrQ80dQyXwgK2CFdybyEXkO0iyKx8fT8jCs2owf5Af5gk0TACyBYZDF93y4P qi0fJcJq/+7o7ywyCMD1Jz++yTMNVykHWO8tdm4AHqWdX21WZDXrJEjbjozZGXfo uu4YEDHGvHelPnvsS1afGyehXZSEvs79XdxkEJ2upLgta+LPoQirv7A2g2khAklT 4dmKdvj9v9oBQesvuwbIlHjrkuOvHssHQL+Y4Sf2UJ2OT4/xygyQOJIuMg9V6dNh oHyKpqYpOdNog12W2+aSezL56+emSgCmaSEm3eyeKjLJ0Xd/O0qzQmvYMZStmFvZ rWw+UB/4Z7ftEz9VxMD22YQyKH4nCUl27KSPsE0LY1sX9TBm69gqILb/3dqGphba vNJQAdkey0o94cw+JZhThkAUPYXsyH0cLCrwRv7FrbgyTImHEjzVYpZj12cCLHeC d+2AfjqnN7AaLB55+gg0aLh/mytPUVsQfrmpTVwy68nUh0g= =tGrq -----END PGP MESSAGE-----
To decrypt use:
C:>gpg --decrypt
And then just paste the ASCII.
You’ll want to use GPG if you’re sending private stuff to someone, or having them send private stuff to you. If you’re sending to someone, you need their public key and vice-versa. You can also use GPG to encrypt files locally.
SSH-RSA is for when you want to use SSH but don’t want to type in or remember a password. Instead of the password you use your private key, the server you log in on has your public key. Your public key, which replaces your password, will be on the machine that you’re logging in *from*, or on say a usb key that you really shouldn’t lose.