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People often think that exporting a secret key from GPG means that the exported version is unencrypted. It's not. It's still encrypted with the same password th
by mike-cardwell 13y ago
People often think that exporting a secret key from GPG means that the exported version is unencrypted. It's not. It's still encrypted with the same password that it was previously. Hence why you don't get prompted for a password when running:
gpg --export-secret-key
And hence why the output of:
gpg --export-secret-key | paperkey
Is already protected by a passphrase. The folding paper idea wouldn't make the printed data any more secure. I could give you my paperkey and you wouldn't be able to do anything with it.
- daeken 13y agoYeah, I know it's encrypted. Just could be a fun project.
- mkehrt 13y agoIt's still supposed to be the case that the private key is protected by being secret in addition to being encrypted. This removes one layer of security. Not that I think it's really a big deal in most real-world cases, but distributing your encrypted private key is violating the contract, so you don't get the same security guarantees.