AVetter

Once you have created your own pgp key you should backup you private (secret) key. So that you can use it in the case that all your data get lost when your pc crash. In graphical application (GPG Keychain Access) that I use under OSX there is no possibility to export your own secret key. It’s just possible to export public keys from your friends and your own one.

Once again the commandline is the best friend you have. With a very short and simple command you can export all of you secret keys or just one of them.

1. Export one secret key:
   1. Get the ID of your secret key (e.g. 83333434)
   2. Export this key: gpg –export-secret-keys –secret-keyring ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg 0x83333434 > mysec.sec
      
2. Export all secret keys:
   1. gpg –export-secret-keys –secret-keyring ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg > allmysec.sec

That’s it!!!

However you should keep the secret key/s really secure, because everyone who has this key can sign and decrypt messages with your name. So be careful.

Today I found another page where you can loose another part of you privacy if you like to tell the whole world your whole life. On the Plazes page you get a login. With the login you and your firends are able to keep track of your daily activities.

In my opinion this kind of “observation” is a lot to much. If the data is stored in a db everyone who has access to this db can follow you and gets a lot of private information about you. With this data it’s possible to create a profile of every single person. Unless you have no scruple to give away this kind of information you should listen to the Chaosradio or read the artikles on the CCC page.

In the hacker contest “PWN to OWN” the Windows Vista and the notebook with the Mac OSX have been hacked. However it was not possible for the participators to hack the notebook with linux (Ubuntu 7.10). This is again a very good result for ubuntu and it’s not only secure, it’s also usable for “human being”. The result is a kind of funny because Windows Vista ask the user for every single step he/she want to do “are you shure ….”. Once more you can see that windows is unsecure and you should change to another OS if you are working with XP or Vista up to now. (VISTA = Virus Inside Switch To Apple)

So if you didn’t tried it up to now and you have an old pc at home or a harddisk with too much space you should try ubuntu. It’s easy to install and to use so give it a try and you won’t be dissapointed. Ubuntu