Linux Command Line: gpg

Before you can do anything with GPG you need to generate a passkey. This key will allow you to encrypt and decrypt files. To generate your key enter the command:

gpg --gen-key

You will be asked a few questions during this process. The first question is:

Please select what kind of key you want:

(1) DSA and Elgamal -This is the default option.

I am going to assume that GPG is already installed on your computer.

With that in mind, let's take a look the commands you need to encrypt and decrypt any file using GPG. To encrypt a file the command structure is;

gpg [OPTIONS] recipient filename

For simplicity I am going to show you how to encrypt a file for your own personal use. This means that only you, or anyone who has your personal gpg keyphrase working on your machine, can un-encrypt the file.

In this case the recipient name will be your personal username you use on your Linux machine. So the actual comand to encrypt a file will be:

gpg --encrypt --recipient 'USERNAME' filename

This will create a new file called filename .gpg

To decrypt the file use the command:

gpg --output filename --decrypt filename.gpg

When you encrypt a file you will not be asked for your passphrase.

When you decrypt a file you will be asked for the passphrase used when you create your key.

GPG is an outstanding tool to aid in your quest for a highly secure computer experience. But don't limit your gpg experience to encrypting files. You can expand gpg for email encryption and other types of encryption. There are thunderbird extensions that allow you to integrate gpg for simple email encryption. GPG is very flexible and very powerful. Get to know gpg and the many things it can do for you.