MIT distribution site for PGP
(Pretty Good Privacy)
PGP or Pretty Good (TM) Privacy is a high-security cryptographic
software application that allows people to exchange messages with both
privacy and authentication.
Privacy means that only those intended to receive a message
can read it. By providing the ability to encrypt messages, PGP
provides protection against anyone eavesdropping on the network. Even
if a packet is intercepted, it will be unreadable to the snooper.
Authentication ensures that a message appearing to be from
a particular person can have originated from that person only, and
that the message has not been altered. In addition to its support for
messages, PGP also enables you to encrypt files stored on your
computer.
MIT distributes PGP free for non-commercial use. This distribution is
done in cooperation with Philip Zimmermann, the author of PGP, and
with RSA Data Security, Inc., which licenses patents to the public-key
encryption technology on which PGP relies.
People desiring private voice communications might wish to examine PGPfone. PGPfone
permits computer owners who have modems or connections to the Internet
to use their computers as secure telephones.
How to obtain PGP from MIT
PGP is distributed by MIT only to US citizens in the United
States, or to Canadian citizens in Canada.
MIT distributes PGP both in source and in and executable only
versions. PGP is available for most DOS, Macintosh, and Unix
platforms. The current versions of PGP being distributed by MIT are:
- For DOS and Unix platforms, MIT has been distributing PGP
version 2.6.2 since October 24, 1994.
- For the Apple Macintosh, MIT has been distributing MacPGP version
2.6.2 since May 17, 1995.
To obtain the current version of PGP from MIT via the World-Wide Web,
click here.
If you do not have WWW access, you can use anonymous FTP to
net-dist.mit.edu. Look in the directory pub/PGP and follow the
directions in the README file.
PGP is available from MIT by WWW or FTP access only. If you do not
have such access you will need to obtain PGP from another source.
Integrating PGP with mail programs
PGP is much more convenient to use in conjunction with an interface
that integrates it into programs for reading and sending mail.
Several such interfaces are available for popular mail programs. The
ones distributed by MIT are:
-
For users of Emacs on Unix systems, there is
Mailcrypt, available from MIT.
Click here for information.
-
For users of Eudora on the Apple Macintosh, there are
Eudora/MacPGP scripts that provide an interface to
PGP. These scripts are included in the MIT MacPGP2.6.2 distribution.
Click here for information.
Here are some other PGP/mail interfaces (not distributed by MIT):
-
For users of MH mail on Unix, exmh is an X Window System
user interface to MH mail, which provides PGP support. You can find
information about exmh
here.
- Offline
AutoPGP is a PGP-based e-mail encryption package for use with PGP
and offline mail readers on DOS machines.
-
Fran Litterio maintains an extensive list of PGP-related utilities and
interfaces to various mailers.
You can find this
here.
Public Keyservers
Once you get PGP and start using it, you might want to consider using
the PGP
Public Keyserver that is available on the Web. Alternatively, you
can learn how to use the Keyservers by email
to add your key to the public keyservers.
Other MIT information about PGP
A
PGP2.6.2 Frequently Asked Questions document that answers commonly
asked questions and discusses known bugs.
The October 1994
announcement of the DOS/Unix PGP 2.6.2 release.
A FAQ
sheet that accompanied MIT's original release of PGP 2.6 in June,
1994. (This is out of date.)
A document that describes the file formats
used by PGP.
Books about PGP
-
The Official PGP User's Guide by Phil Zimmermann, MIT
Press, 1995, ISBN: 0-262-74017-6, 216 pages, Paperback, $14.95
-
PGP: Source Code and Internals by Phil Zimmermann,
MIT Press, 1995, ISBN: 0-262-24039-4, 900 pages, Hardcover, $60.00
-
PGP: Pretty Good Privacy by Simson Garfinkel,
O'Reilly & Associates, 1994, ISBN: 1-56592-098-8.
- Protect Your Privacy - A Guide for PGP Users by
William Stallings. Prentice-Hall, 1994, ISBN 0-13-185596-4.
PGP information available on the Internet
There are extensive archives of PGP information available on the
Internet. Information includes background on cryptography, legal
issues involved with PGP use, and other sources of PGP software.
The following sources are particularly useful, and they have links
to many others:
Reporting bugs
To report bugs in the MIT PGP distributions, send Email to
pgp-bugs@mit.edu.
Phil has started a company, Pretty Good
Privacy, Inc. which markets commercial versions of these programs.
Last modified: September 4, 1996 --
Jeffrey I. Schiller
PGP Lock Logo is (c) 1994 Copyright O'Reilly & Associates and used here
with permission