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4 min readNov 25, 2025
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PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is one of the oldest and most trusted tools for encryption, which journalists, activists, and cybersecurity professionals rely on to keep communications safe.
PGP uses a pair of keys, a public key and a private key.
Think of it like this:
- Your public key is your mailbox. Anyone can drop an encrypted message in it.
- Your private key is your key to that mailbox. Only you can open it.
So if someone encrypts a message using your public key, only you can decrypt and read it with your private key.
Create Your PGP Key Pair
In a Linux system, you can generate your key pair using the terminal or the graphical app called Passwords and Keys. For this exa…
Member-only story
4 min readNov 25, 2025
–
Press enter or click to view image in full size
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is one of the oldest and most trusted tools for encryption, which journalists, activists, and cybersecurity professionals rely on to keep communications safe.
PGP uses a pair of keys, a public key and a private key.
Think of it like this:
- Your public key is your mailbox. Anyone can drop an encrypted message in it.
- Your private key is your key to that mailbox. Only you can open it.
So if someone encrypts a message using your public key, only you can decrypt and read it with your private key.
Create Your PGP Key Pair
In a Linux system, you can generate your key pair using the terminal or the graphical app called Passwords and Keys. For this example, I will use the terminal using the following command.
gpg --full-generate-key
You’ll be asked to choose:
- The type of key (choose RSA).
- The key size (4096 bits is safest).
- An expiration date, name, email, and a passphrase.