McAfee office 3.1 User Manual
PGP Personal Privacy
190
McAfee Office
Basic steps for using PGP Personal Privacy
This section takes a quick look at the procedures you normally follow in the
course of using PGP Personal Privacy.
course of using PGP Personal Privacy.
1. Install PGP on your computer. Refer to the Individual Product Requirements
in Chapter 2 for complete installation instructions.
2. Create a private and public key pair.
Before you can begin using PGP, you need to generate a key pair. A PGP
key pair is composed of a private key to which only you have access and a
public key that you can copy and make freely available to everyone with
whom you exchange information. You have the option of creating a new
key pair immediately after you have finished the PGP installation
procedure, or you can do so at any time by opening the PGPkeys
application.
key pair is composed of a private key to which only you have access and a
public key that you can copy and make freely available to everyone with
whom you exchange information. You have the option of creating a new
key pair immediately after you have finished the PGP installation
procedure, or you can do so at any time by opening the PGPkeys
application.
3. Exchange public keys with others. After you have created a key pair, you
can begin corresponding with other PGP users. You will need a copy of
their public key and they will need yours. Your public key is just a block of
text, so it’s quite easy to trade keys with someone. You can include your
public key in an email message, copy it to a file, or post it on a public or
corporate key server where anyone can get a copy when they need it.
their public key and they will need yours. Your public key is just a block of
text, so it’s quite easy to trade keys with someone. You can include your
public key in an email message, copy it to a file, or post it on a public or
corporate key server where anyone can get a copy when they need it.
4. Validate public keys.
Once you have a copy of someone’s public key, you can add it to your
public keyring. You should then check to make sure that the key has not
been tampered with and that it really belongs to the purported owner. You
do this by comparing the unique fingerprint on your copy of someone’s
public key to the fingerprint on that person’s original key. When you are
sure that you have a valid public key, you sign it to indicate that you feel
the key is safe to use. In addition, you can grant the owner of the key a level
of trust indicating how much confidence you have in that person to vouch
for the authenticity of someone else’s public key.
public keyring. You should then check to make sure that the key has not
been tampered with and that it really belongs to the purported owner. You
do this by comparing the unique fingerprint on your copy of someone’s
public key to the fingerprint on that person’s original key. When you are
sure that you have a valid public key, you sign it to indicate that you feel
the key is safe to use. In addition, you can grant the owner of the key a level
of trust indicating how much confidence you have in that person to vouch
for the authenticity of someone else’s public key.
5. Encrypt and sign your email and files.
After you have generated your key pair and have exchanged public keys,
you can begin encrypting and signing email messages and files.
you can begin encrypting and signing email messages and files.
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If you are using an email application supported by the plug-ins, you
can encrypt and sign your messages by selecting the appropriate
options from your application’s tool bar.
options from your application’s tool bar.