Silk Road forums

Discussion => Security => Topic started by: g4bb3r on June 23, 2011, 08:00 am

Title: Accidentally Lost My Private Key
Post by: g4bb3r on June 23, 2011, 08:00 am
Well, fuck. I reformatted my computer to install a different OS and I thought I backed up my keys, but apparently I didn't backup my private keys. Either that or my new frontend that I don't like very much isn't recognizing them for whatever reason.

Any help here? Or if I generate a new key is there some way to prove my legitimacy to you guys?
Title: Re: Accidentally Lost My Private Key
Post by: sandybridge on June 23, 2011, 11:57 am
No, there is no way unless you can somehow recover your private key. Or on the other hand you could get someone who knows you to vouch for you.

have you tried:

>gpg --import-secret-key "the-file-you-backed-your-secret-key-up-in.key"

?
Title: Re: Accidentally Lost My Private Key
Post by: g4bb3r on June 23, 2011, 09:05 pm
I've tried every import option I could find unfortunately, it seems I messed up when exporting them. I guess I'll have to generate a new key. My email/torpm/etc. are all still the same though.
Title: Re: Accidentally Lost My Private Key
Post by: techlord on June 23, 2011, 10:58 pm
Damn. That really blows. It's a bit tricky backing up that private key.

Here's the way I do it:

Use this first command to find the KeyID:

Code: [Select]
gpg --list-secret-keys
Output will look like this:

Code: [Select]
    /root/.gnupg/secring.gpg
    ————————
    sec  1024D/EE6E8046 2009-02-20
    uid                Bill Till (My GPG key) <test@abc.com>
    ssb  2048g/AE3B1BD4 2009-02-20

    sec  1024D/E4635BBE 2009-03-16
    uid                  John Doe (My first key) <gpg@abc.com>
    ssb  2048g/0AC353C2 2009-03-16

Bill's KeyID is EE6E8046 and John's is E4635BBE.

Next enter this command to export the private key for Bill:

Code: [Select]
gpg -ao /desiredlocation/desiredfilename.key --export-secret-keys EE6E8046
Or for John Doe:

Code: [Select]
gpg -ao /desiredlocation/desiredfilename.key --export-secret-keys E4635BBE
Title: Re: Accidentally Lost My Private Key
Post by: sandybridge on June 24, 2011, 12:21 am
I wish everyone would use the CLI'd GPG software, it makes things so much easier, both for the techie and the regular user. The main reason being that us CLI heads all speak the same language...
Title: Re: Accidentally Lost My Private Key
Post by: g4bb3r on June 24, 2011, 12:33 am
I'm with you guys there. Had to deal with the horror that is windows for almost a whole year and finally have been able to move back to linux.