Encrypting Data with Guard

Key Management

Managing own PGP keys

You have the following options:

How to add a new PGP key:

  1. Click the Settings icon in the menu bar. Click on All settings.

    Click on Guard in the left pane. Click on Your PGP keys in the right pane.

  2. You have the following options:

    • To create a new key pair, click on Create New. The Create GuardSecurity Keys window opens.

      Enter a password for the new key. Confirm the password.

      The new key consists of a master key and a corresponding subkey.

    • To add an existing private key, click on Upload Private Key. Select a file containing a private key. The Upload Private Keys window opens.

      To upload the new key, enter your Guard security password. Enter a new password for the new key.

    • To add an existing public key, click on Upload Public Key. Select a file containing a public key.

    The new key will be entered on top of your key list. The new key becomes the current key.

How to view your existing PGP keys:

  1. Click the Settings icon in the menu bar. Click on All settings.

    Click on Guard in the left pane. Click on Your PGP keys in the right pane.

    Your PGP keys will be displayed.

    • Each PGP key consists of a master key and a subkey.

      • Among other things, the master key is used for signing your emails.

      • The subkey will be used for encrypting and decrypting.

    • Depending on the requirement, Guard automatically uses the master key or the subkey.

  2. To display details for a key, click the Manage keys icon next to a master key. The Key Details window opens.

    To view the key's signatures, click on Signatures.

How to manage your existing PGP keys:

  1. Click the Settings icon in the menu bar. Click on All settings.

    Click on Guard in the left pane. Click on Your PGP keys in the right pane.

    Your PGP keys will be displayed.

  2. To download your public key to your computer, click on Download my public key.

  3. Click the Manage keys icon next to a master key. Use the following functions.

    • If your key list contains more than one key, you can define the current key. To do so, click on Mark current. From now on, the current key will be used for encryption.

    • If you want to use the key for another email account, click on Edit IDs. The Add User ID window opens.

      Enter a name for the user ID. Enter the email address that you want to use for this key.

      Enter your password for this key.

    • To download a private key, click on Download.

      Define whether to download your private key only, your public key only or both keys.

      Caution: Your private key will be downloaded in encrypted form. You should not download your private key to a publicly accessible system, though.

    • In order to revoke or delete a private key, click on Delete. The Delete Private Key window opens. Notes:

      • if you revoke a key, it will no longer be used. But you can still decrypt objects that have been encrypted with this key. For this reason, revoking a key is better than deleting it.

      • Warning: If you delete a private key, you can no longer decrypt objects that have been encrypted with this key.

      You have the following options:

      • To revoke a private key, click on Revoke.

        Enter the password for the private key. If required, select a reason for revoking the key.

        Click on Revoke.

        You can also click on Revoke in the menu.

      • In order to delete a private key, click on Delete.

        Enter the password for the private key.

        Click the Delete button.

      When deleting a master key, the corresponding subkey will be deleted too.

Related topics:

Parent topic: Key Management