<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
      type="topic" style="task"
      id="about-pgp">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="concepts" group="first"/>
    <link type="seealso" xref="about-ssh"/>
    <revision version="0.1" date="2011-10-23" status="stub"/>
    <revision pkgversion="3.9" version="0.1" date="2013-07-03" status="review"/>

    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>

    <credit type="author copyright">
      <name>Aruna Sankaranarayanan</name>
      <email its:translate="no">aruna.evam@gmail.com</email>
      <years>2013</years>
    </credit>

    <desc>PGP keys are used to sign and encrypt emails and files.</desc>
  </info>

  <title>What is a PGP key?</title>

  <p>A PGP key is a public encryption key. A PGP key can be used to sign and
  encrypt emails and files. When you create a PGP key, a keypair having a
  public key and a private key is generated. You can share the public key with
  anyone who wishes to send you  encrypted messages or files, but the private
  key must be known only to you and used to decrypt received messages.</p>

<section id="encryption-signing">
  <title>Encrypt and sign data using PGP keys</title>

  <p><app>Passwords and Keys</app> is a key management application. Though it
  cannot be used to encrypt or sign files and messages, you can use it to
  <link xref="pgp-sign">sign</link> trustworthy keys.</p>

  <p>To secure your communication, you can use email clients like
  <app>Evolution</app> that provide
  <link href="help:evolution/mail-encryption-gpg-signing-encrypting">encryption
  and signing</link> services.</p>

</section>

</page>
