diff --git a/misc/blog.gnupg.org/20170807-web-key-in-enigmail.org b/misc/blog.gnupg.org/20170807-web-key-in-enigmail.org index 7cecf15..7e6d25f 100644 --- a/misc/blog.gnupg.org/20170807-web-key-in-enigmail.org +++ b/misc/blog.gnupg.org/20170807-web-key-in-enigmail.org @@ -1,88 +1,88 @@ # Using the Web Key Service with Enigmail #+STARTUP: showall #+AUTHOR: Kai #+DATE: August 7, 2017 ** Using the Web Key Service with Enigmail Obtaining the public key of someone has always being a major pain point of using GnuPG. OpenPGP doesn't "outsource" trust management by using a PKI. -Instead it allows each user to decide whom to trust. This has the downside -that we need to evaluate whenever we can trust a new public key for each -new communication partner. Until recently there wasn't an automatic way to -get the public key of someone you never communicated with. +Instead, it allows each user to decide whom to trust. This has the downside +that we need to evaluate whether we can trust a new public key for each +new communication partner. Until recently, there wasn't an automatic way to +securely get the public key of someone you never communicated with. -The [[https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-koch-openpgp-webkey-service-03.html][Web Key Service]] -and the new ~--auto-key-retrieve~ & ~--auto-key-locate~ available in recent -versions of GnuPG. +The [[https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-koch-openpgp-webkey-service-03.html][Web Key Service]] and the new ~--auto-key-retrieve~ & +~--auto-key-locate~ available in GnuPG 2.1.19 and beyond. *** Web Key Service -The Web Key Service is a protocol to publish public OpenPGP keys via email -and retrieve others public keys using HTTPS. The advantage over HKPS is that -every email provider maintains its own key server (called Web Key Directory, -WKD) that is authoritative for all its users. This means that, +The Web Key Service is a protocol to publish public OpenPGP keys via +email and retrieve others' public keys using HTTPS. The advantage over +HKPS is that every email provider maintains its own key +server (called Web Key Directory, WKD) that is authoritative for all +its users. This means that: -1. there exists only one key server for a given email address. No need to ask - multiple servers as with HKPS, +1. There exists only one key server for a given email address. No need to ask + multiple servers as with HKPS. -2. when publishing a public key using mail, WKD makes sure the sender is in - possession of the secret key, +2. When publishing a public key using mail, WKD makes sure the sender is in + possession of the secret key. -3. email providers can (and should) make sure that only the owner of the +3. Email providers can (and should) make sure that only the owner of the email account is able to publish a public key for it. Point three helps us with trust management. In case we trust the email -provider of our communication partner we can trust the key retrieved by WKD +provider of our communication partner, we can trust the key retrieved by WKD more than one from an HKPS based key server. #+CAPTION: Web key service protocol overview #+ATTR_HTML: :style max-width: 600px [[file:img/wks-schema.png]] *** Publish your public key to a Web Key Directory In order to use WKS you need a provider who supports it. After you configured the email account in Thunderbird you need to enable OpenPGP for it and generate a key pair. #+CAPTION: Enable the OpenPGP checkbox in the account settings. #+ATTR_HTML: :style max-width: 600px [[file:img/wks-account-settings.png]] Then, open the key management window and find your public key. Right clicking it opens the context menu. There, select the option to upload the public key -to your providers WKD. +to your provider's WKD. #+CAPTION: Context menu of the key management dialog. #+ATTR_HTML: :style max-width: 600px [[file:img/wks-key-mng.png]] -After submission the WKD will send a email to you asking to confirm the +After submission, the WKD will send an email to you asking to confirm the publication request. The subject line and body copy can be defined by the WKD but Enigmail will display a yellow bar above the message announcing it is a -confirmation request. Clicking the button on the right will send to +confirmation request. Clicking the button on the right will send the confirmation email to WKD. #+CAPTION: Enigmail adds a yellow bar to the confirmation request. #+ATTR_HTML: :style max-width: 600px [[file:img/wks-confirm-req.png]] After the email has been sent, your public key will be accessible to everybody. *** Receive others public key from a Web Key Directory Recent version of Enigmail receive missing public keys automatically form multiple sources, including WKD. Everybody who wants to send you an encrypted -email will be able to do so without finding you public key first. +email will be able to do so without finding your public key manually first. -Because this is a bit anticlimactic but you can use the ~--auto-key-locate~ -option to retrieve your own public key from the WKD to see whenever it worked. +This is a bit anticlimactic, but you can use the ~--auto-key-locate~ +option to retrieve your own public key from the WKD to see if it worked. ~HOME=`mktemp -d` gpg2 --auto-key-locate wkd -e -r ~ If GnuPG is able to retrieve the public key you will see a line that looks like that: ~gpg: automatically retrieved '' via WKD~