[sclug] Why does nothing ever work.

[Alex Butcher]

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004, Ian Michell wrote:

> I have never used PGP keys, I have never seen the need really, can
> someone tell me why i "should" use one, and what its benefits are over
> its hassles?

They're useful for allowing people to verify that *you* really did send a
given message (e.g. a security update, or a purchase order), by signing it
with your key.

Encryption may-or-may not be useful depending on what you're discussing, the
expertise and access of any potential eavesdropper, and how paranoid you
are. Some things are perhaps best not discussed in plaintext email via your
employer's networks, for instance. Equally, some customers don't like the
idea of engineers at ISPs between you and them being able to read documents
describing all the security problems with their networks. ;-)

Finally, at the moment, unencrypted email is the norm, making encrypted
email stand out as probably containing something worth protecting (and
therefore, cracking). If the use of encrypted email becomes more common,
it'll become harder for individuals and organisations to tell valuable
information from someone's holiday photos. Whether or not this is a good
thing is left to your own political/social beliefs. ;-)

> Ian

Best Regards,
Alex.
-- 
Alex Butcher      Brainbench MVP for Internet Security: www.brainbench.com
Bristol, UK                      Need reliable and secure network systems?
PGP/GnuPG ID:0x271fd950                         <http://www.assursys.com/>