Cyber crime is prevalent today and will be more so in the future. It is very common for sensitive data to be leaked to unauthorised people. This can be done via electronically with or without the user knowing it. One such common practice is to send plain password or important documents via email.
A good solution is to encrypt the data with proper software and specify who can view the doc. So someone may receive your doc accidentally but since you did not provide him with your public key, he will not be able to open the doc.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Privacy_Guard
Implementing GPG in Linux
* Install the package
yum install gnupg
* Create your private/secret and public key
gpg --gen-key
* Import an external key from your friend who wants to send you a gpg encrypted file
gpg --import xxx.asc
* To decrypt the file
gpg -d encrypted.gpg
* To view all the keys available
gpg --list-keys
* To encrypt the file to your friend, lookup the uid from the command above, then
gpg -e -r [uid] [file to encrypt]
* once the file is encrypted, it can be distributed to the right person and only the right person with the private key can open the file.
Implementing GPG in Windows
The windows version can be found here – http://www.gpg4win.org/
more information – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gpg4win
* download the software.
* program files -> gnupg for windows -> winPT -> generate a GnuPG Key Pair
* Right click the icon on the taskbar -> key manager
* To import a file, open key manager -> menu -> key -> import
* To encrypt the file to someone, in explorer, right click on the file -> GPGee -> encrypt (PK) -> select the right user from the list.
* Once done, atatch the file in the email and the file can now only be opened by people authorised by you.
