Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: experimental333 on January 14, 2012, 11:26 pm
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I wrote this guide for one of the SR users, and thought I would share it here.
I prefer to use PortablePGP because it's better suited for SR than email software with built in PGP encryption.
Here we go:
Download portable PGP http://ppgp.sourceforge.net/
Unpack the archive
start pgpportable.exe
click the "generate new pair key" icon on the top
name: enter your SR username
email: just type nothing@nothing.com or whatever you want, don;t use your real email adress!
passphrase: enter your password YOU WILL USE IT TO DECRYPT YOUR MESSAGES
again: confirm the password
click generate
wait a few sec
now you have your pair of keys, you can decrypt and encrypt messages.
HOW TO ENCRYPT A MESSAGE:
You need the recipients public key. usually you can find it in his profile, if not ask for it.
1 Copy the public key of the sender to notepad, save the file.
2 Click the icon with an arrow "import from a file", next to "public keys"
find the txt file you just saved, open it.
3 Click "Encrypt" button on the left
4 Enter the message
5 choose the recipient from "target" dropdown list
6 Click encrypt BELOW
Now you have the encrypted message. copy it and paste and send it.
MAKE SURE TO PASTE YOUR PUBLIC KEY, SO THE RECIPIENT CAN ENCRYPT A MESSAGE FOR YOU
HOW TO DECRYPT A MESSAGE
1 Copy the encoded message
2 Click "Decrypt" button on the left
2 Paste the message
4 Click Decrypt
5 Enter your password
6 Read the message :)
installation under Mac OS:
Since portablepgp is written in java, it can also be started on MacOS, you just need a launcher. It's just a command that executes portablepgp java file under mac os.
1 Download portablepgp create a folder called PortablePGP in your documents folder, put the portablepgp files there.
2 Go to http://www.instantcrypt.com/InstantCrypt_CompatiblePrograms_LinuxApple.php and download th launcher (green button halfway in the page).
Extract the launcher files to your PortablePGP folder.
Start "Start_PortablePGP_OSX.terminal"
Now you should be running portablepgp under mac os!
If you need more help, just reply here and I'll help you out.
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So close! I followed all the instructions and I'm almost there. The trouble is, when I get to the part where you double click on "Start_PortablePGP_OSX.terminal," I see the terminal window open up for just a brief moment then it closes back down again and the program won't run. I have no idea what that is about. Any ideas? This is the second PGP program I'm trying and I can't seem to get either one to work. The first one I installed was GPG tools or something. I managed to create a public and private key using that one but I have no idea how to import someone's public key and use that to encrypt/decrpyt a msg. Can you tell me the exact steps to import someone's public key and use it to send/receive msgs? I'm no computer whiz AT ALL so I'll need very basic step by step instructions. Thanks man. I know us noobs are a pain but I'll pay it forward!
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Thanks! :)
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I'm a noob here, just trying to figure everything out so I can properly encrypt, so I got pgp for mac os and followed the steps to get the launcher, but when I open the terminal, the window for the terminal opens fine, but there is no pop up or nothing that gives me any sort of options to "generate new pair key" or anything like that, what am I missing? thank you.
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So close! I followed all the instructions and I'm almost there. The trouble is, when I get to the part where you double click on "Start_PortablePGP_OSX.terminal," I see the terminal window open up for just a brief moment then it closes back down again and the program won't run. I have no idea what that is about. Any ideas? This is the second PGP program I'm trying and I can't seem to get either one to work. The first one I installed was GPG tools or something. I managed to create a public and private key using that one but I have no idea how to import someone's public key and use that to encrypt/decrpyt a msg. Can you tell me the exact steps to import someone's public key and use it to send/receive msgs? I'm no computer whiz AT ALL so I'll need very basic step by step instructions. Thanks man. I know us noobs are a pain but I'll pay it forward!
Hey man, just learning this shit out now too. What program are you using now and can you please help me out?
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This really should be sticked. It is by far the easiest to learn method, with no messing around.
The whole process took me 15 minutes! Thanks heaps mate!
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This really should be sticked. It is by far the easiest to learn method, with no messing around.
The whole process took me 15 minutes! Thanks heaps mate!
Are you on a mac? If so how did you get it to work? I can open the osx terminal, but no window comes up asking if I want to create a key or not. Some help would be much appreciated
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Someone please send me their key so I can see if I have this figured out!
Thanks
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Unpack the archive
This is the first line that I become lost. What does this mean?
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Ah thank you! This was a great help. I had some trouble importing a public key. To avoid this make sure the key is saved as a plain text document. So (.txt) otherwise you might run into problems when importing.
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Unpack the archive
This is the first line that I become lost. What does this mean?
lol. just fyi sometime sarcasm online has to be a bit more explicit.. but if you are in-fact legit:
windows: 7-zip.org
mac: www.macupdate.com/app/mac/22774/the-unarchiver
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Awesome guide! FINALLY I HAVE PGP!!!!! I am very grateful to you experimental333.
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O.k., So I type a message, I get a PGP encrypted message which i sent by mail to the recipient.
The recipient opens it using his key I guess...
Now i'm lost for the part: "MAKE SURE TO PASTE YOUR PUBLIC KEY"...
I dont have a public key and I cant see how to make 1 in portable PGP. I tried to open the message I created myself (for recipient) but got the error "cannot extract a suitable private key..." (although used my key which i entered before in the Elgamal Key Pair)
So I can make a encrypted message but am stuck on the part of decrypting...
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This by far is the best step by step guide for mac users. Thanks you so much!!! I have gotten everything done but there is still one little snag. For the part when you encrypt a message, I do not have notepad on my mac. So can i use pages or text edit? I tried saving the file with .txt at the end but it doesnt work. Is there a different route I can go?
EDIT: Just figured everything out.!!!! Thanks for the guide again
Keep on smiling.
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For some reason every time i try and encrypt a message an error box pops up saying "permission Denied". Anyone know anything about this?
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This by far is the best step by step guide for mac users. Thanks you so much!!! I have gotten everything done but there is still one little snag. For the part when you encrypt a message, I do not have notepad on my mac. So can i use pages or text edit? I tried saving the file with .txt at the end but it doesnt work. Is there a different route I can go?
EDIT: Just figured everything out.!!!! Thanks for the guide again
Keep on smiling.
Hey, hoping someone can help me out here.
So i am trying to encrypt a messege and am having a similar problem to that above. Im on a mac so i dont have notepad. So im using textedit, i copy the public key, paste it in there, then save it and try importing it to portablepgp but i keep getting "public key ring doesnt start with public key tag: 0xffffffff" does anyone know what im doing wrong??
Thanks in advance!! You are really helping me out!
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This by far is the best step by step guide for mac users. Thanks you so much!!! I have gotten everything done but there is still one little snag. For the part when you encrypt a message, I do not have notepad on my mac. So can i use pages or text edit? I tried saving the file with .txt at the end but it doesnt work. Is there a different route I can go?
EDIT: Just figured everything out.!!!! Thanks for the guide again
Keep on smiling.
Hey, hoping someone can help me out here.
So i am trying to encrypt a messege and am having a similar problem to that above. Im on a mac so i dont have notepad. So im using textedit, i copy the public key, paste it in there, then save it and try importing it to portablepgp but i keep getting "public key ring doesnt start with public key tag: 0xffffffff" does anyone know what im doing wrong??
Thanks in advance!! You are really helping me out!
Hi,
same Probs to me!
if i copy the Public Key to Notepad, save it and want to import it - there comes the error shown above but with 0x0f
and in text edit its the same like MacMan write...
any Idea? would be great if anybody can help here...
thx :)
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damn, sorry to hear your having this problem too! Gr such a pain in the ass, its always 1 little freakin thing.
I hope someone can help or im gonna have to try another tutorial thats no where close to this simple.
ANYONE!>>!><??
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xxxccxxx good news i figured it out. When you are in textedit paste the key go to format and click "make plain text" , you should then be able to get it to work.
Cheers!
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Hey MacMan :)
thx for the good news ... now it works -
Plain text was the key!
And for all others: if you want to import a key - save it as plain text and do a doubleklick - dont klick open!
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Where do i find my public key in this program, i generated a pair of keys but im not sure where to find my public key? would it be the same thing as a signature?
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There's a good window's front-end called GPG4Win if people are struggling and want FAST.
Specifically the program Kleopatra in the package, with which you can import the other person's public key, encrypt and decrypt by simply copying the relevant text to the clipboard (highlight it all, CTRL-A, then copy CTRL-C) right click the icon in the taskbar and choosing Clipboard.
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bumping this thread for the awesome info it contains
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Great tutorial I personally use this software, as I can put it in my truecrypt container on my memory stick as it runs portable.
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Still new to this myself, but for the OSX users having trouble...
When you copy a public key in textedit, are you including the lines above and below the jibberish? ie the
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (MingW32)
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Those lines need to be in the text you paste into your new textedit file.
This is my frst SR forums post, hope it helps someone...
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having trouble starting/opening portablepgp. It opens VERY briefly then closes while opening another terminal window with nothing but the name of my pc and the name registered. do I need to personally install some 'branch' of java or is something else wrong?
Thanks in advance
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Still new to this myself, but for the OSX users having trouble...
When you copy a public key in textedit, are you including the lines above and below the jibberish? ie the
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (MingW32)
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Those lines need to be in the text you paste into your new textedit file.
This is my frst SR forums post, hope it helps someone...
Yes, copy everything from the first dash on the top line to the final dash on the last line.
What works best for me is opening up textedit, switching to plain text (command+shift+T), going to Firefox, highlighting and copying the entire key, switching back to Textedit, paste -> Save (I name it key and save to my truecrypt drive or desktop).
After you have saved the file, open up PortablePGP.jar and click the black down arrow button next to Public Keys' and selecting the file I named 'key' and saved to my truecrypt drive (or desktop). After I get the confirmation that the key has imported, I delete the 'key' text file. HTH :)
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Still looking for MY OWN PUBLIC KEY?
How can i paste it to vendor, if i don't even know it myself?
So how do i find it?
Thank you! :)
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Okay every time i try to unpack the archive with unarchiver it says "the contents of this file cannot be extracted with this program" Any help?
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Nevermind I figured it out.
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Hi there,
Mac user here and everything is working fine! thanks for the info!
Just a little confused, when i encrypt a message to send to SR vendor do i select the vendor under the 'target' dropdown menu and then under the 'sign' dropdown menu do i choose "No signature, just encrypt" OR "myself 'myself@myself.myself'"?
Thanks in advance,
anon
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O.k., So I type a message, I get a PGP encrypted message which i sent by mail to the recipient.
The recipient opens it using his key I guess...
Now i'm lost for the part: "MAKE SURE TO PASTE YOUR PUBLIC KEY"...
I dont have a public key and I cant see how to make 1 in portable PGP. I tried to open the message I created myself (for recipient) but got the error "cannot extract a suitable private key..." (although used my key which i entered before in the Elgamal Key Pair)
So I can make a encrypted message but am stuck on the part of decrypting...
The way you do this is to send yourself a msg. Click the "Encrypt" bar and drag down yourself as the recipent. When the notepad opens you have your public key. Hope this helps!!