Symmetric Key Encryption with GnuPG

gmendoza — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:59:06 +0000

If you ever want to quickly protect a file by encrypting it with a simple password, you can use GnuPG and symmetric key encryption for the job. Using this method, you can use industry strength encryption like AES256 and not have to worry about public and private keys. Just remember your password and use PGP compatible software to decrypt the files when needed.

For example, this is how you can encrypt a zip file called backup.zip and output the result to a new file called backup.zip.gpg.

gpg --symmetric --cipher-algo aes256 -o backup.zip.gpg backup.zip Enter passphrase: ******* Repeat passphrase: *******

To decrypt the file, the following will work.

gpg -d -o backup.zip backup.zip.gpg gpg: AES256 encrypted data Enter passphrase: ******* gpg: encrypted with 1 passphrase

For fun, here’s how to create a Gzip Tar archive (tar.gz) and encrypt it on the fly.

tar czvpf - SomeFiles/ | gpg --symmetric --cipher-algo aes256 -o backup.tar.gz.gpg Enter passphrase: ******* Repeat passphrase: *******

To decrypt and extract in a single command, the following also works.

gpg -d backup.tar.gz.gpg | tar xzvf - gpg: AES256 encrypted data Enter passphrase: ******* gpg: encrypted with 1 passphrase

If you’re curious to know what other ciphers are available to you, simple use the gpg --version command.

gpg --version | grep Cipher Cipher: 3DES, CAST5, BLOWFISH, AES, AES192, AES256, TWOFISH

Share and Enjoy:

SavvyAdmin.com » Zip

Symmetric Key Encryption with GnuPG