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Pretty Good Privacy
open-in-new
<p>Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is an <a href="/facts/Encryption_software/Dc39822I">encryption program</a> that provides <a href="/facts/Cryptographic/e94PEVau">cryptographic</a> <a href="/facts/Privacy/C269YalS">privacy</a> and <a href="/facts/Authentication/64y4S69b">authentication</a> for <a href="/facts/Data_communication/1yAhaANd">data communication</a>. PGP is used for <a href="/facts/Digital_signature/tY7e2pnW">signing</a>, encrypting, and decrypting texts, <a href="/facts/Email/6pD9GLtI">e-mails</a>, files, directories, and whole disk partitions and to increase the <a href="/facts/Security/B4uxkyxh">security</a> of e-mail communications. <a href="/facts/Phil_Zimmermann/L36wnTv4">Phil Zimmermann</a> developed PGP in 1991. </p><p>PGP and similar software follow the OpenPGP standard (RFC 4880), an <a href="/facts/Open_standard/RGvhGQVI">open standard</a> for <a href="/facts/Encryption/16q29Fdv">encrypting</a> and decrypting <a href="/facts/Data/AUBFN97o">data</a>. Modern versions of PGP are <a href="/facts/Interoperability/7WgqUbXU">interoperable</a> with <a href="/facts/GnuPG/EqmGmx7V">GnuPG</a> and other OpenPGP-compliant systems. </p><p>The OpenPGP standard has received criticism for its long-lived keys and the difficulty in learning it, as well as the <a href="/facts/EFAIL/NoA1M2rY">Efail</a> security vulnerability that previously arose when select e-mail programs used OpenPGP with S/MIME. The new OpenPGP standard (RFC 9580) has also been criticised by the maintainer of <a href="/facts/GnuPG/EqmGmx7V">GnuPG</a> <a href="/facts/Werner_Koch/SwGoHo3W">Werner Koch</a>, who in response created his own specification LibrePGP. This response was dividing, with some embracing his alternative specification, and others considering it to be insecure. </p>