Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: lastlight on July 10, 2011, 07:05 pm
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I have looked everywhere for a good tutorial but they're all confusing at best. Could someone PLEASE give us a detailed step by step tutorial on what software we need and where we can download it. A detailed explanation in layman's terms of what is actually going on... And a detailed explanation of each step (from the beginning) on how to start an encrypted conversation with someone on silk road who has posted their public key for you to use.
If you can help I will be very grateful. I can't imagine this being overly complicated.
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Alright I seem to have found a great tutorial on this, finally...
http://www.robertsosinski.com/2008/02/18/working-with-pgp-and-mac-os-x/
Will let you guys know how I go.
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try this pal, a guy on here called 'shepj' made the tutorial...so all credit to him
original thread- http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=131.0
HERES A QUOTE FROM THE THREAD,A DUDE SUMMED IT ALL UP INTO ONE TUT FOR EASY REF-MADE BY WICKED420 USING SHEPJ GUIDE
""""I have compiled this guide, and all the images and put them on my Tutorial Site:
http://p3lr4cdm3pv4plyj.onion/
This guide specifically is located here: http://p3lr4cdm3pv4plyj.onion/guides/shepj.html
All images linked in this tutorial have been moved to .onion so no clearnet links are used.
And yes, please use PGP encryption! thanks shepj for all the work and images. """"""""""""""
OH AND I FOUND A YOUTUBE VID ASWELL-5parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuLr8PdkdOY&feature=related
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Thanks redrocket, though the tutorial I posted above was great, I've now finally figured it out.
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The thing that took me the longest to figure out if you're using Mac OS X is how to actually import keys and encrypt messages. I understood it all in theory but in practice none of the tutorials or programs (i.e. GPG Drop Thing) actually worked as stated. I don't know how many times I tried to import keys into GPG Keychain Access only to be told that there was "Nothing Imported." I downloaded GPGMail and despite the appearance of a solution still couldn't access the keys I had downloaded and saved as .asc/.txt files.
Finally, I found one post on here that mentioned opening the native MAC "Mail" app (after downloading GPGMail), clicking the "Mail" tab on the upper left, then on "Services," "Services Preferences," and scrolling down that list of features, where at the bottom I found commands like "Open PGP:Encrypt," "Import Public Key," "Decrypt," etc. Once those options are selected, you simply need to click on "New Message," write your message, highlight it all (IMPORTANT--no need to actually send it from Mail or add a recipient), and then go back up to "Mail," "Services," and finally, there you will see the new options you selected like "Encrypt." If you copy and past someone's Public Key into the message window, highlight it, and choose the "Import Public Key" option, it imports their key into GPG Keychain Access (which you might need to refresh in order to see the new key). Then you can compose your own message, highlight it, and under "Services" after choosing the "Encrypt" command you will be given a list of all recipients whose Public Keys are listed in your GPG Keychain Access. Simply encrypt, copy, and paste into the message window on SR!
It sounds like you already figured this out on your own, luckily. But yeah, figuring it all out on a Mac takes awhile, and not just because it's difficult, but because most of the tutorials I came across didn't work or were incomplete. Hopefully this helps anyone out there struggling. I will be happy to answer any more questions!
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But yeah, figuring it all out on a Mac takes awhile, and not just because it's difficult, but because most of the tutorials I came across didn't work or were incomplete. Hopefully this helps anyone out there struggling. I will be happy to answer any more questions!
This. A thousand times this.
Thank you so much for this.
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I am still struggling :( I would greatly appreciate any and ALL help. I am trying to do all of this with TOR enabled.
I'm afraid I've annoyed a certain vendor quite a bit with my emails asking questions. This is extremely confusing on a mac.
I have downloaded the GPG Keychain access but when I download GPG mail, I'm not sure it installed correctly?
I see a vendor has a public key on their page? Do I need to import that into Keychain access somehow? If so, how?
I sent the vendor a message I *think* i encrypted but I'm honestly not sure.
The vendor has replied to me with a private message that was encrypted, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to decrypt it. I copied the message into the default Mac Mail app and tried to go the service menu to select decrypt but it was not available as an option.
Is there a trick to downloading and installing GPG mail?!
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I have been able to encrypt/decrypt messages with just GPG Keychain Access on my Mac. If you are not planning to send emails to vendors, you should be able to manage without GPG Mail.
Did you share your public key with the vendor? That is the only way he/she could encrypt a response that you would then be able to decrypt. If that's the case, you can decrypt as follows:
1. Paste the encrypted message into TextEdit or other basic text editor.
2. Select all.
3. Right-click, select Services --> OpenPGP: Decrypt.
To encrypt your messages to vendors, you will first need to import their public keys as follows: select the entire key (including header and footer), right-click, select Services --> OpenPGP: Import Key. In theory that should work; if it doesn't, you can paste the key into TextEdit, save as plain text with .asc extension, and manually import into GPG Keychain Access.
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Shmoo, thank you so much for your response and help. This is a major headache for me and I'm stoned so it just makes it even more confusing
I'm not planning to send direct emails at this time.
I did share my public key with the vendor, since they did encrypt a message back to me.
I pasted the encrypted message into text edit (the only word like software i have) and when I went to select services after the entire text was selected and highlighted including the header, there was no option of "OPEN PGP: Decrypt". I've also tried decrypting from the mac Mail app using the same highlighting & select service technique.
I tried to save their public key to import but in text edit you can't save as .asc extension as far as I can see. I saved their public key in every possible file format but none import into my GPG Keychain :(
Do I need to download something that lets me create .asc files?
What version of GPG Keychain access have you downloaded? I have a feeling mine may not have fully installed or might just be glitchy and difficult to learn.
Thanks again
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First, it *really* helps if you're not stoned. ;)
Second, when you're sober, search all the posts under my name. In one I give the links to the keychain access and also the GPG for Mac download that is an all inclusive bundle. In another thread I link the pictorial that was on the old SR forums for doing installation, etc.
Sounds like you have some program that didn't install correctly, best to go back and start over with known best availables.
I never could get it to encrypt/decrypt on textedit either. I just use the "new message" function in MAIL.
Good luck.
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I pasted the encrypted message into text edit (the only word like software i have) and when I went to select services after the entire text was selected and highlighted including the header, there was no option of "OPEN PGP: Decrypt". I've also tried decrypting from the mac Mail app using the same highlighting & select service technique.
I tried to save their public key to import but in text edit you can't save as .asc extension as far as I can see. I saved their public key in every possible file format but none import into my GPG Keychain :(
Do I need to download something that lets me create .asc files?
Took me a frustrating morning to figure this out myself. If the services you're looking for don't show up under the services menu, go to Services Preferences... It will take you to the Keyboard Shortcuts panel. Though this doesn't seem to be the right place, it is - if you scroll down, you'll see the OpenPGP options with check boxes. Check them all. If they don't show up to be checked, the tools didn't install correctly and you'll need to redo the install.
Once they show up, TextEdit should be all you need. You won't need to save keys as .asc files - select the full text of the public key in your browser (protip: make sure and include the "-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----" before and "-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----" after the key and everything in between, otherwise it won't recognize the key), go to services, and OpenPGP: Import. You may need to restart the GPG Keychain Access app, but the new key should show up. Then, write your message in TextEdit, select it, and select OpenGPG: Encrypt from the Services menu. It should give you a list of keys with which to encrypt. Cut and paste the result into a PM, and you ought to be good to go.
Seems like people who have muddled their way through this are able to explain it better than the pros - thanks to all the above posters, or I might still be beating my head against the wall.
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Ah thanks so much for the response. I abandoned everything I tried yesterday and followed this tutorial as closely as possible and I'm having some success:
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=1210.msg10271#msg10271
(Major kudos to joe blow btw. Hes been extremely helpful and I don't see why the above thread is not stickied for Mac users.
Using that I don't need text edit at all but I just use "GPG Drop Thing" and it works perfectly.
Feel free to send me a PM agent orange, if you'd like to exchange test messages with me. i'd appreciate it.