Protecting your private key with the OpenPGP smartcard
Gnu Privacy Guard [1] (sometimes called GnuPG or just GPG) has long served the open source community as a tool for encrypting email and other documents. GnuPG, which is based on the OpenPGP standard, uses the familiar asymmetric key exchange approach, with a public key to encrypt the message and a private key to decrypt it. The public key is shared with other users, and the private key is kept secret by the message receiver. As long as no one discovers the private key, only the message receiver will be able to read the message.
GnuPG is thus a powerful tool for ensuring confidential communication – as long as the private key stays private. But protecting a private key is not as easy as it sounds. If you store the private key on your computer, the key is only as safe as your computer is. Your system could fall victim to malware, cyber attack, or a nosy system administrator, and if so, the private key would be at risk. On the other hand, if you are a mobile worker and you have the need to use the private key from multiple locations, lugging it around on a thumb drive poses a whole different set of security issues.
One solution that is gaining momentum is to carry the private key on a smartcard. The ISO/IEC 7816-4 standard defines a method for encoding cryptographic keys on a smartcard. The OpenPGP smartcard is an implementation of ISO/IEC 7816-4 for GnuPG and other OpenPGP-compatible encryption systems.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs Transitions to Linux
Another major organization has decided to kick Microsoft Windows and Office to the curb in favor of Linux.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.