Generating A New Key Pair - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 11 - APPLICATION GUIDE 17-03-2009 Application Manual

Software developers sign their software so you are able to check its integrity. Even
if you have the software from an unofficial server, you can verify the package with
the signature.
Encrypting
You might have sensitive information you want to protect from other parties. En-
crypting helps you to transform data and make it unreadable for others. This is es-
pecially important for companies who must protect internal information as well as
the employees' privacy.

10.2 Generating a New Key Pair

To be able to exchange encrypted messages with other users, first generate your own
key pair. One part of it—the public key—is distributed to your communication partners,
who can use it to encrypt the files or e-mail messages they send. The other part of the
key pair—the private key—is used to decrypt the encrypted contents.
IMPORTANT: Private Key versus Public Key
The public key is intended for the public and should be distributed to all your
communication partners. However, only you should have access to the private
key. Do not grant other users access to this data.
Your private key is protected with a passphrase. Choose the passphrase carefully:
do not use words from a dictionary and mix alphabetic with non-alphabetic
characters.
Start KGpg from the main menu or press Alt + F2 and enter kgpg. When you start the
program for the first time, a wizard appears to guide you through the configuration.
Follow the instructions up to the point where you are prompted to create a key.
If you have already generated a key pair, select Keys > Generate Key Pair if you want
to create a new key pair.
100 Application Guide