What Is PGP?

Date First Published: 7th November 2023

Topic: Cybersecurity

Subtopic: Security Mechanisms & Technologies

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 8/10

Learn about what PGP is in this article.

Stands for Pretty Good Privacy. PGP is an encryption program used to provide cryptographic privacy and authentication for emails and sensitive files. PGP and similar software follow the OpenPGP, an open standard of PGP encryption software for encrypting and decrypting data. In most cases, PGP software is packaged as part of an email client or web browser.

In order to get a PGP program, users need to download and install it on their computers. It usually contains a user interface that works with the user's email program. In order for people exchanging messages with the user to find it, the public key that the PGP program provides must be registered with a PGP public-key server.

How Does PGP Work?

Pretty Good Privacy uses a type of public key system. Each user in this system is assigned a public encryption key and a private key that only the user knows. Users use the recipient's public PGP key to encrypt messages they transmit to them. When the recipient receives the message, they decrypt it using their private key.

Public key encryption can use an excessive amount of resources when used to encrypt a communication in its whole form. Therefore, PGP encrypts the message using a symmetric key encryption method and encrypts the symmetric encryption key using the public key. The recipient receives both the encrypted message and the encrypted symmetric encryption key. They use their private key to decrypt the short key first, and then the message.

History

PGP was released in 1991 by Philip Zimmermann. After its release, the US government filed charges against Philip Zimmermann claiming that he broke US encryption laws. These charges were later dropped. As of now, PGP is now a product of PGP Corporation and is still a widely used encryption tool.

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