PGP, Part 2: Getting the Course Account's Public Key and Adding it to your Key Ring

1. The Class Discussion Board should have the following section:
   Introduction to Information Technology and Information Professions: Assignment Section: PGP Keys. The first message in this section should contain the course public key.
   
   
2. From your telnet prompt (which may be bash$), use pico to create a new file. You can type: pico filename to start working on a new file. I used the name "coursekey," so I typed: pico coursekey.
   
   
3. Copy the course public key from the discussion board and paste it to the coursekey file. Copy everything from -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- to -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- including those two lines.
   
   
4. Exit pico (ctrl-x) and save the file.
   
   
5. To add this key to your key ring, type: pgp -ka filename. (If you're using the name "coursekey", pgp -ka coursekey.) Answer y when it asks you whether you want to add these keys. **
   
   
6. To make sure the key is in your keyring, type: pgp -kv. You should see your key and the course key in the list of keys.

**This question of "trust" brings up what some view as a weakness of public key cryptography. In many cases, a trusted third party must exist to provide public keys, whether the keys are provided via email or take from a separate server.

<-- Back | Home | Next -->