PGP is a well respected internationally used public/private key cryptography system.

Public Key cryptography relies on the encryption key being made public but the decryption key is private.  By using our public key you can send us messages that only we can decrypt (once encrypted even the sender cannot decrypt it without the recipients private key).  Similarly to send you messages we need to know your public key. 

The great advantage of this system is that you do not need to have a "trusted delivery" of the decryption keys.  The public key, as its name implies, is open to all.  The private key always remains in your control.

PGP can also be used to "sign" an unencrypted message so that any alteration to it can be detected.  Used in this way the private key is used to generate a signature and the public key is used to check the authenticity of the message.

The international version of PGP we use is compatible with the US version but not subject to control by the United States government.  However overseas clients are reminded that it is their responsibility to conform with any local laws (if any) concerning the sending of encrypted messages to and from their country.  As at Jan 97 the countries we know who ban the private use of encryption are France, Russia, Iran, Iraq and China.

PGP is secure, multiplatform and easy to use, however setting it up in the first place can be quite hard work.  PGP is available in versions for DOS, Unix and Mac amongst others.  It is also available for Windows 95/NT in version 6 which is a lot easier to set up than the earlier DOS versions.  If you are using Windows you might find it easier to use version 6 or a "shell" to to version 2.6 to give you a Windows front end to PGP.  If you are not familiar with PGP we recommend you look at one of the PGP sites below.  Don't forget to bookmark this page first so you can find your way back.

To find out more about PGP go here.    To download PGP for major operating systems go here.  If you go here you will find versions for  a wider range of machines.

Windows shells for PGP can be found here with brief descriptions of each.   There is also a Windows package called  Private Idaho which is another PGP front end and reportedly good with mail readers such as Pegasus.  It includes a program called PGP Quick Start which aims to guide the new user through initial setting up and key generation. PGP Quick Start works as a stand alone as well as with Private Idaho and is available on its own from:-  

f tp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/j/joelm/Install.exe

Full details can be found on the Private Idaho WWW Site which also includes some worthwhile background reading on PGP.

You will find a number of people suggesting that you learn PGP under DOS before trying the Windows shells.  Personally I found the DOS version incomprehensible until I had used the Aegis Windows shell and got an idea of what was going on!!  There is nothing more dispiriting than an encryption system which studiously turns everything you throw at it into alphabet soup and then refuses to let you have it back.