what is the use of signing keys?

David Shaw dshaw@jabberwocky.com
Sat Oct 13 04:32:01 2001


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On Sat, Oct 13, 2001 at 03:07:44AM +0100, Mark Brown wrote:

> On Sat, Oct 13, 2001 at 02:02:22AM +0100, Owen Blacker wrote:
>=20
> > So I have a signing key, with no encryption component, so I know that it
> > can't be seized under any circumstances.
>=20
> Is there anything technical preventing the signature key from being used
> for encryption other than stuff like option flags?
Depends on the key algorithm. With RSA, there is no particular reason (and you can change the flags by changing your self-signature). You can do it with ElGamal as well, but there is some controversy whether an ElGamal signing key is a good idea in the first place. David --=20 David Shaw | dshaw@jabberwocky.com | WWW http://www.jabberwocky.com/ +--------------------------------------------------------------------------= -+ "There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence." - Jeremy S. Anderson --pf9I7BMVVzbSWLtt Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iQEVAwUBO8enCoccwqs8s7QVAQF6yggAwI9Lm4J1KfMN2XQCOBWp+DG+y4S5pgKE DJPmFnaQzzAcQE5w9gZi/X9EMbcioLK1tlM0aface6ooEh3iXLa8g/5RM8czLxrP AbtPm38O/NV57kp2nf/5PXFGJ+YLvSzymBz7QpcpMPeLw7rFmwbL6BFLT3YneVQh HPi2RoMJn9GPNkifP0R+Ypo5GJBe91dXV4TksqEio5Vn0zmOms5COxnc7OUqvid7 NNK3sz92tVqMZA645t80G6jMr5IXEKk6NoscLV3yN7A71W1kcXw/xju6dNrKKlo5 +p3nN4G9Xp8meObGtudFRhBMBUW5U2af0q1kUW3I2OPNde7CCpQEeQ== =RJk9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --pf9I7BMVVzbSWLtt--