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GPG Key Managing


Hey guys, I wanted to ask you how you manage your gpg keys? Having them in plaintext all the time on my hard drive feels unsecure.

I have my ssh keys in a password manager (KeePassXC) that only exposes them to the keyagend, when unlocked. Do you know if something like that exists for pgp too?

in reply to Zenlix

A hardware solution is the best route, Yubikey and/or smartcard.

Linux reshared this.

in reply to Zenlix

You should not store your privates keys unencrypted. In fact by default your keys are stored password protected just as if you'd store them in keepass.
in reply to Zenlix

Depends on how strong your password is and the environment you are entering the password in
in reply to Zenlix

I store them in an app on my phone behind password protection
in reply to Zenlix

Is also storing your gpg keys in KPXC unsuitable for your purposes?
in reply to SMillerNL

This is very interesting information!

I'd like to note that it's likely that several recommendations used as examples have been superseded with information around privacyguides.org/en/real-time… and similar locations, since expressing "use WhatsApp" makes me suspicious (and "use Wire" does not make me more confident): makeuseof.com/why-i-dont-trust… proton.me/blog/is-whatsapp-saf…

in reply to splendid9583

The link I posted focuses on security, what you post focuses on privacy. Wire is a very secure protocol but WhatsApp being owned by Meta still makes it a privacy nightmare.

Signal is probably a better choice in that case.

in reply to SMillerNL

It seems that the people managing privacyguides.org believe that "Balancing security, privacy, and usability is one of the first and most difficult tasks you'll face on your privacy journey." privacyguides.org/en/basics/th…

That does raise the question about whether we want to make information available for someone on a "privacy journey" or "security journey" or some other type of journey. blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tar…
I suspect that securityguides.org isn't being used like how privacyguides.org is right now.

in reply to Zenlix

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to Zenlix

If the private keys have a passphrase they're already encrypted. The fact that it's a text file doesn't mean it's a plaintext file.
But for improved security, you could use a Yubikey or similar hardware token.
in reply to Zenlix

I mainly use Kleopatra with a dedicated passphrase for it.