PGP: Overview

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is a public key encryption package to protect E-mail and data files. It lets you communicate securely with people you've never met (or with those you have), with no secure channels needed for prior exchange of keys.

Public key encryption means the key used to decrypt information is different from the key used to encrypt the information. With a strong public key system, the encryption key can be made publicly available without compromising the security of encrypted information.

Resources used for this FAQ:

PGP man pages

Garfinkel, Simson. Encryption for Everyone: PGP Pretty Good Privacy, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc, 1995. ISBN 1-56592-098-8