What Is PGP Encryption?

You can never be too safe online. As technology advances in applications and use cases, the more options there are to exploit users and developers for their private data.

Even though the world wide web applications have expanded drastically over the last two decades, the main sources of software and data breaching are still the same - emails and files. With that in mind, the PGP technology was invented - a program framework with cryptographic privacy against digital malpractices.

In this article, we explain what PGP is - how to use it and the main benefits of applying the framework to your software, company or daily life.

What Is PGP?

PGP stands for “Pretty Good Privacy”, a cryptography program pattern utilized by many sectors of data protection, where it guarantees the authenticity of the data you send or receive. PGP can be used for many things, such as encrypting or decrypting texts, emails, files, storage drive partitions, as well as part of creating digital signatures. It was invented in 1991 by computer scientist Phil Zimmermann, who had the idea for PGP’s silly name from a local market in his area called “Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery.”

Benefits of PGP:

1. Enhanced Security: PGP encryption utilizes a combination of symmetric and asymmetric encryption techniques to secure the data. This makes it virtually impossible for hackers to decrypt the data without the correct key;

2. Data Integrity: PGP encryption ensures that the data is not altered during transmission. This helps to ensure that the data is not tampered with or corrupted by any third-party;

3. Easy to Use: PGP is a user-friendly encryption technology that can be easily deployed in any organization. It is also compatible with a wide range of operating systems, making it easy to use in any environment;

4. Non-repudiation: PGP encryption helps to ensure that the data is not repudiated by either the sender or the receiver. This ensures that the data is not misused and that any disputes between the parties can be easily resolved;

5. Cost-efficiency: PGP encryption is cost-efficient and does not require any additional hardware or software for its implementation. This makes it a great choice for businesses that are looking to reduce their IT costs.

How Does PGP Work?

Source: freeCodeCamp

In order to understand PGP technology, one must first understand the basics of cryptography. Let’s say you want to send someone a love letter but don’t want anyone to read it except for the righteous person who will receive it. You write your letter and create a code (the cryptography’s key) in order to encrypt your message. For example, if you want every letter of your file to represent a number in its encryption, “Hello” would read as “8-5-12-12-15”. However, the receiver may not be aware of the code you have created - through a software solution, such as PGP, they are able to easily decrypt the message.

But the decryption is only successful if the receiver has the details of how to execute it and you cannot, of course, send the letter along with the encryption instructions otherwise other people will be able to open it. You could send the details separately, but they also run the risk of being stolen in the process. So what’s the solution for this? That’s where PGP comes in.

PGP Cryptography

The Pretty Good Privacy framework utilizes something called “public-key cryptography,” which means that every exchange of data requires two keys - one public and one private, to encrypt and decrypt messages. The public key is used to hardcode the information while the private key is the one that cracks it.

To better explain it, picture this process as a box that has two locks and the sender needs to use his key to one of the locks - the public one - to seal it. They can then share the public key with anyone or store the information in key-sharing servers. The public key then cryptographs the message in a way that no one else can access the information, not even the sender themselves. Once the data has been sent, the encryption functions in a manner where only the combination of both your pairs of private and public keys are able to unlock it. Only you and the sender hold each respective private key, and most not share it with anyone.

Is PGP secure?

It most certainly is. PGP cryptography uses 128 bits keys, which in a nutshell makes any lock extremely difficult to break due to the many attempts needed for a hacker to find the right combination. To put things into perspective; if we managed to create a computer capable of guessing one billion keys per second, it would take the hardware over 10 million years to try all possibilities related to 128 bits PGP encryption. Basically, it is not very practical to attempt a PGP break - whether you have the private key of the person you’re trying to exploit or not, guessing is virtually impossible.

Where Can I Use PGP?

Source: Almir Mustafic - Medium

The PGP technology has become widely adopted over the past few decades, but its main use is still for emails. There are several plugins that you are able to install in your Gmail account, for instance, that bring you automated encryption for all your emails sent and received. However, for legal reasons, such plugins are not able to cryptograph details such as your email address, email subject or even the files that you attach to the content. Some services involving PGP encryption offer features such as “burner emails” that only last one interaction, anonymous registries and more, but such setups tend to be quite shady.

PGP technology is also widely used for digital signatures, and is to this day the main method of encryption for legal documents, contracts, lawsuits and much more. One example of PGP usage in file encryption is Gnu Privacy Guard, free software available for Windows computers where you can create public and private keys, share them anonymously with the parties involved and have them receive/sign the documents with digital signatures.

And finally, an obvious application: crypto. While we currently have several methods of encryption for digital wallets, cold storage, paper wallets and more, PGP was the first and still one of the safest mechanisms to protect your currencies if stored outside the safe environment of an exchange like Gate. The now old-school flash drives containing Bitcoin that we’d see back in 2010, and 2011 mostly used PGP encryption and are again, virtually impossible to break.

Conclusion

PGP encryption, or Pretty Good Privacy, was one of the earliest and most utilized methods of encryption for basic data such as emails and personal correspondence. While technology does become inevitably more advanced with time, the old methods of encryption still find their way into our routines as long as their relevance is sustained. In PGP’s case, the framework is still very much needed, and will continue to find new practices of adoption as more digital tools are introduced to our daily lives.