gpg --recv-key option

[L. Sassaman]

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On Sun, 26 Mar 2000, Michal Hajek wrote:

> Hello, can anybody tell me what and why these fingerprints are ?
> It should be something important or useful at least since nearly
> everybody who uses gpg/pgp uses it. I have searched gpg help but did not
> find out what i was looking for. Thanks in advance...
> Best regards Michal Hajek

Sure thing. "Fingerprints" are unique identifiers for keys. They are a
hash output of the key material. (v3 and v4 keys are a little different as
far as fingerprints are concerned; I won't go into specifics here.)

Basically, they are useful in determining that a key belongs to a
particular person. You call him or her on the phone (provided you can
trust the phone... ) and ask him to read his fingerprint to you. You
compare it with the ones you got from a key server, and the key with the
same fingerprint is the real one.

This makes sure that someone doesn't make a key with the same uid and
keyid as the real one, in order to pull off a man in the middle attack, or
similar compromise of security.

__

L. Sassaman

System Administrator                |  "All of the chaos
Technology Consultant               |   Makes perfect sense..."
icq.. 10735603                      |
pgp.. finger://ns.quickie.net/rabbi |              --Joe Diffie



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