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Our Blogs Apexing the Linux learning curve Data encryption and Ubuntu, Part II
Our Blogs Apexing the Linux learning curve Data encryption and Ubuntu, Part II | Data encryption and Ubuntu, Part II |
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| Apexing the Linux learning curve - Linux for Learners | |
| by Hamish Taylor | |
| Thursday, 27 November 2008 | |
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Page 3 of 3 The first thing that I recommend is to backup the key. In the Passwords and Encryption Keys window, double click on the key you have just created. A separate window will open up with three tabs at the top. Go to Details.Featured Whitepaper
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At this point I usually make a copy of my Public Key so that I can easily send it as an attachment in an email for someone else to import to their system and then encrypt files to me. In the main Passwords and Encryption Keys window, right-click on the key, select "Export Public Key" and choose the location to save it. As it prompts using the same name as the full key backup we created above, you will want to change the filename to Public-MyName.asc or something similar which let you know it is the Public Key. You do NOT want to be sending anyone your Private Key!!! Ok, so now we have a key and it is nicely backed up somewhere. Now we can get about actually encrypting files. This is the easiest part. Using Nautilus (Ubuntu's default file manager) navigate to a file. Right click on it and select Encrypt. You'll be given the option of which key to use. Tick the one you just created (most likely the only one there, but as you get more and more people's Public Keys this will change) and click OK. Because it is encrypting to a Public Key there is no password prompt. The original file will still be there. You can delete the file, but be aware that there may be a backup of the file. In Nautilus, you can see these file backups by going to View and selecting "Show hidden files" or by pressing CTRL-H. Look for the same filename ending in ~. You might want to delete that too. You should now have a file with the extension .pgp. You can now do as you like with this file, safe in the knowledge that only your Private Key will be able to decrypt it. To decrypt it, right-click on the file and at the top find Open with "Decrypt file". You'll be prompted for a location to save the file and your Private Key password. If you Zip together a whole bunch of files into one, you can still encrypt that file. If you decrypt it, you'll get the Zip archive which can then just unzip normally. This is the sort of thing that I do with all of my travel documents. Now we know how Public and Private Key encryption works, how to create a Key Pair, how to back it up and save a copy of your Public Key, and how to encrypt and decrypt files on your local computer. Next time we'll look at how to digitally sign and encrypt emails to other people! As always, please leave feedback, comments and questions. However, I will only respond to comments left on iTWire article discussion forums. The direct link for this article is here . |
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