Eli5 what is pgp key and how does it work

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Eli5 what is pgp key and how does it work

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When you create a PGP key you’ve effectively created a locked box with two keys, anything locked up with the key gets shaken all up so it’s no longer recognizable(encrypted). One of those keys is a public key, this allows you to put anything in that lock box that you want, however once you lock it up you can no longer unlock it. Then there’s a private key which is what is needed to unlock the lockbox and put all of the pieces back together in the correct order.

General usage for PGP is to allow you to send/receive data or store data so that only the persons with the private key is able to open it.

An example would be I have a client that wants to send me sensitive data. I send them my public key, which allows them to create a lockbox that only I can open(encrypting), They send me the file and I use my private key to open the lockbox and retrieve the contents(decrypting).

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