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How to Back Up and Restore Your GPG Keys on Linux

August 15, 2022 by www.howtogeek.com Leave a Comment

Privacy is an increasingly hot topic. On Linux, the gpg command lets users encrypt files using public-key cryptography, in which case losing your encryption keys would be catastrophic. Here’s how to back them up.

OpenPGP and GNU Privacy Guard

One of the advantages of electronic files over paper hard copies is you can encrypt electronic files so that they are only accessible by authorized people. If they fall into the wrong hands, it doesn’t matter. Only you and the intended recipient can access the contents of the files.

The OpenPGP standard describes a system of encryption called public-key encryption. The GNU Privacy Guard implementation of that standard resulted in gpg , a command-line tool for encrypting and decrypting in accordance with the standard .

The standard outlines a public-key encryption scheme. Although it is called “public-key”, there are two keys involved. Each person has a public key and a private key. Private keys, as the name suggests are never revealed nor transmitted to anyone else. Public keys can be safely shared. in fact, public keys must be shared for the scheme to work.

When a file is encrypted, the sender’s private key and the recipient’s public key are used in the encoding process. The file can then be delivered to the recipient. They use their private key and the sender’s public key to decrypt the file.

Public and private keys are generated as a matched pair and tied to a particular identity. Even if you don’t transmit sensitive material to other people, you may use them on your own computer to add an extra layer of protection to private documents.

How to Encrypt and Decrypt Files With GPG on Linux

The encryption uses world-class algorithms and cryptographic functions. Without the appropriate public and private keys, you simply can’t get into encrypted files. And, should you lose your keys, that goes for you too. Generating new keys won’t help. To decrypt your files you need the keys that were used in the encryption process.

Needless to say, backing up your keys is of paramount importance, as is knowing how to restore them. Here’s how to accomplish these tasks.

The .gnupg Directory

Your keys are stored in a directory called “.gnupg” in your home directory. This directory will also store the public keys of anyone that has sent encrypted files to you. When you import their public keys, they are added to an indexed database file in that directory.

Nothing in this directory is stored in plain text, of course. When you generate your GPG keys you’re prompted for a passphrase. Hopefully, you’ve remembered what that passphrase is. You’re going to need it. The entries in the “.gnugp” directory cannot be decrypted without it.

If we use the tree utility to look at the directory, we’ll see this structure of subdirectories and files. You’ll find tree in your distribution’s repositories if you don’t already have it on your computer.

tree .gnupg

The directory structure of the .gnupg directory.

The contents of the directory tree are:

openpgp-revocs.d : This subdirectory contains your revocation certificate. You’ll need this if your private key ever becomes common knowledge or otherwise compromised. Your revocation certificate is used in the process of retiring your old keys and adopting new keys.
private-keys-v1.d : This subdirectory stores your private keys.
pubring.kbx : An encrypted file. It contains public keys, including yours, and some metadata about them.
pubring.kbx~ : This is a backup copy of “pubring.kbx.” It is updated just before changes are made to “pubring.kbx.”
trustdb.gpg : This holds the trust relationships you have established for your own keys and for any accepted public keys belonging to other people.

You should be making regular, frequent backups of your home directory anyway, including the hidden files and folders. That will back up the “.gnupg” directory as a matter of course.

But you may think that your GPG keys are important enough to warrant a periodic backup of their own, or perhaps you want to copy your keys from your desktop to your laptop so that you have them on both machines. You’re you on both machines, after all.

Determining Which Keys to Back Up

We can ask gpg to tell us which keys are in your GPG system. We’ll use the --list-secret-keys options and the --keyid-format LONG options.

gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG

Listing the GPG key details to the terminal window

We’re told that GPG is looking inside the “/home/dave/.gnupg/pubring.kbx” file.

None of what appears on screen is your actual secret key.

The “sec” (secret) line shows the number of bits in the encryption (4096 in this example), the key ID, the date the key was created, and “[SC].” The “S” means the key can be used for digital signatures and the “C” means it can be used for certification.
The next line is the key fingerprint.
The “uid” line holds the ID of the key’s owner.
The “ssb” line shows the secret subkey, when it was created, and “E.” The “E” indicates it can be used for encryption.

If you have created multiple key pairs for use with different identities, they’ll be listed too. There’s only one key pair to back up for this user. The backup will include any public keys belonging to other people that the owner of this key has collected and decided to trust.

Backing Up

We can either ask gpg to back up all keys for all identities, or to back up the keys associated with a single identity. We’ll back up the private key, the secret key, and the trust database file.

To back up the public keys, use the --export option. We’re also going to use the --export-options backup options. This ensures all GPG-specific metadata is included to allow the files to be imported correctly on another computer.

We’ll specify an output file with the --output option. If we didn’t do that, the output would be sent to the terminal window.

gpg --export --export-options backup --output public.gpg

Exporting the public GPG keys

If you only wanted to back up the keys for a single identity, add the email address associated with the keys to the command line. If you can’t remember which email address it is, use the --list-secret-keys option, as described above.

gpg --export --export-options backup --output public.gpg [email protected]

Exporting the public GPG keys for a single identity

To back up our private keys, we need to use the --export-secret-keys option instead of the --export option. Make sure you save this to a different file.

gpg --export-secret-keys --export-options backup --output private.gpg

Exporting the private GPG keys

Because this is your private key, you’ll need to authenticate with GPG before you can proceed.

Note that you’re not being asked for your password . What you need to enter is the passphrase you supplied when your first created your GPG keys. Good password managers let you hold information like that as secure notes. It’s a good place to store them.

Providing the GPG passphrase to export the private keys

If the passphrase is accepted, the export takes place.

To back up your trust relationships, we need to export the settings from your “trustdb.gpg” file. We’re sending the output to a file called “trust.gpg.” This is a text file. It can be viewed using cat .

gpg --export-ownertrust > trust.gpg

cat trust.gpg

Exporting the GPG trust relationships

Here are the three files we’ve created.

ls -hl *.gpg

The three files created by the exporting commands

We’ll move these over to another computer, and restore them. This will establish our identity on that machine, and allow us to use our existing GPG keys.

If you’re not moving the keys to another computer and you’re just backing them up because you want to be doubly sure they’re safe, copy them to some other media and store them safely. Even if they fall into the wrong hands, your public key is public anyway, so there’s no harm there. And without your passphrase, your private key cannot be restored. But still, keep your backups safe and private.

We’ve copied the files to a Manjaro 21 computer.

ls *.gpg

The exported files transferred to a Manjaro computer

By default, Manjaro 21 uses the Z shell , zsh , which is why it looks different. But this doesn’t matter, it won’t affect anything. What we’re doing is governed by the gpg program, not the shell.

To import our keys, we need to use the --import option.

gpg --import public.gpg

Importing the public GPG keys

The details of the key are displayed as it is imported. The “trustdb.gpg” file is also created for us. To import the private key is just as easy. We use the --import option again.

gpg --import private.gpg

Importing the private GPG keys

We’re prompted to enter the passphrase.

Entering the passphrase to import the private GPG keys

Type it into the “Passphrase” field, hit the “Tab” key, and hit “Enter.”

Confirmation of the imported private GPG keys

The details of the imported keys are displayed. In our case, we only have one key.

To import our trust database, type:

gpg --import-ownertrust trust.gpg

Importing the GPG trust relationships

We can check everything has been imported properly by using the --list-secret-keys option once more.

gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG

Verifying the import has worked

This gives us exactly the same output we saw on our Ubuntu computer earlier.

Protect Your Privacy

Make sure your GPG keys are safe by backing them up. If you have a computer disaster or just upgrade to a newer model, make sure you know how to transfer your keys to the new machine.

After the Robb Elementary shooting, some Uvalde parents are choosing private or online education

August 15, 2022 by www.chron.com Leave a Comment

UVALDE — Brianna Gonzales, fresh off her nursing shift, sat quietly alongside her two sons in Uvalde High School’s auditorium this past week as school district officials laid out for parents new safety measures for the upcoming school year.

Gonzales has decided to keep her two sons, a kindergartner and a fifth grader, in the district. But it wasn’t the easiest decision. Her oldest was at Robb Elementary on May 24, the day an armed teenager entered the school and killed two teachers and 19 children. Fortunately, she had taken her son home before the shooter entered the building.

But a summer of conflicting government narratives has set Uvalde parents on edge, particularly after a state report showed that 376 law enforcement officers showed up at Robb on May 24 but did not engage the shooter for more than an hour.

Parents are now trying to plan for the back-to-school season and facing tough choices over their children’s education and safety. Some are keeping their kids in the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District when school starts on Sept. 6. Some are choosing homeschooling and others are looking at private schools.

“I just didn’t see what the point of going to another district would do for me,” Gonzales said. “If it could happen here, it could happen there.”

Gonzales, like other parents in this working-class community, doesn’t have the time or money to look for other options right now. She has a full-time job and she’s usually up earlier to get herself and her kids ready for the day. Their dad works out of town and is usually home only during the weekends, she said. That rules out trying to get her kids to nearby districts or pay for private school or even consider online school.

“COVID affected them a lot and I saw how that affected their education and I don’t want them to have to go to virtual again,” she said. “I don’t have the time of day to do things with them for school so I feel like I would be failing them on that part of their education.”

At least in Uvalde, she said, the district is working toward making the school more secure as the first day approaches.

In the high school auditorium, the Uvalde schools superintendent, Hal Harrell, laid out for parents and students the district’s plans to make schools here secure as well as offer more access to mental health resources. He discussed the district’s partnership with Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine , also known as TCHATT, which helps identify behavioral health needs of children and adolescents.

The district is also contracting Rhithm , a company with an app that allows staff and students to log how they are feeling. Communities in Schools , a nonprofit organization focused on connecting students with resources, is also sending teams to the district to provide additional behavioral health support to students.

The district is upgrading security on its seven campuses. Fencing is being installed at some schools. But Harrell couldn’t promise that Uvalde High School would be secure with fencing before the first day because of the sheer size and openness of that campus.

There will be 33 Texas Department of Public Safety officers deployed across the Uvalde school district throughout the school year. The district is also accepting applications for campus monitors, who would check locks on doors and gates and provide reports to the administration. Some 500 cameras will be installed at campuses before the first day of school.

The district has spent about $4.5 million so far in security upgrades, with some of the money coming from donations and grants.

Uvalde CISD will offer an online option for students who want to stay in the district but not attend in-person classroom instruction. Students who opt for online instruction will receive brand-new iPads, Harrell said.

The Texas Education Agency is in the process of approving Uvalde’s virtual school and making sure it complies with Senate Bill 15 , the virtual education bill that passed during last year’s second special session.

The bill also caps the number of students in the district that can be enrolled in a district’s online alternative. The school district will need a waiver from TEA if more than 10% of all enrolled students want to be in the online school.

But for Gonzales, Uvalde’s new security plans seem to satisfy her, and her children will return to the district’s in-person classes.

“[Uvalde is] implementing new security features, having the troopers there — that brings another sense of added security,” she said.

Gonzales made the decision two weeks ago to send her kids back to Uvalde CISD. It’s something that parents here don’t usually question in this small town of 15,000, about 85 miles west of San Antonio, she said.

As a lifelong Uvalde resident, Gonzales wanted her children to have the same experience she did attending district schools. She also wants her children to regain a sense of normalcy after two years of school disruption from the pandemic.

But as a result of the shooting, Gonzales still has a sense of fear and concern as the first day approaches. She bought her oldest son, who is 10, a cellphone. She hadn’t planned to get him a phone until he was 13. She also plans to buy them bulletproof backpacks, which she sees as an investment.

“Last year it was just ‘I have to buy school clothes’ and that was it,” she said. “This year is completely different.”

Adam Martinez, the father of two students, will send his kids to the online school that Uvalde is offering. It wasn’t his first choice but as he spoke with his kids, it was obvious they were still scared.

“I was telling my son, ‘there’s gonna be a tall fence, and they’re gonna have state troopers on all the locations,’” Martinez said. “And he told me, ‘Who cares if there’s cops? They’re not going to do anything anyway, they’re scared.’”

Others, though, still have not regained the trust of the school district. Angeli Gomez, a parent who had two children at Robb the day of the shooting, was handcuffed that day trying to get answers from law enforcement about her children.

Now, she and 19 other women have been in touch with a woman in San Marcos who has offered to homeschool their children for free.

Uvalde’s mayor has said Robb Elementary will be demolished and another school will be built in its place. But until that happens, no student will have to return to the school. Instead, students will be spread out to different Uvalde CISD campuses.

One of those is Flores Elementary. Gomez doesn’t think it’s a good idea to transfer the children from Robb there.

“They’re trying to stuff our kids — third, fourth, fifth and sixth [grade] — in Flores, since they want to demolish Robb, but Flores won’t fit our kids,” she said. “We’re gonna have, what, 33 kids in a class? They’re not gonna pay attention or learn.”

Jeremy Newman, deputy director of the Texas Home School Coalition, advised that parents considering withdrawing their kids from the public school system in favor of homeschooling don’t need to recreate what a public school does.

“People feel like they have to be a master in all academic subjects,” Newman said. “The parent’s job is not as much to transfer knowledge from their head to the students’ head as it is for them to provide a learning environment where the student wants to learn.”

For people who haven’t been in charge of homeschooling their child, it can be an overwhelming task to find the right resources for their child. Newman suggests they contact his group , which helps families who have always homeschooled or those who are just starting out.

The number of families homeschooling at least one child has tripled in Texas since the start of the pandemic, Newman said. According to Texas Education Agency data, nearly 30,000 students between grades 7-12 withdrew from Texas public schools to homeschool in the 2020-2021 school semester, a 40% increase over the prior year.

Topping the reasons people are choosing homeschooling are safety and academics, he said.

Still other Uvalde parents will send their children to Sacred Heart Catholic School, one of three private schools in the city. Principal Joseph Olan said interest in his school has increased from previous years. During the last school year, he had about 55 students enrolled. This year, that number has ballooned to 120, and he expects it to grow as the school year goes on.

First: An improved and taller fence was recently installed as part of Sacred Heart Parish School’s new security enhancements. Middle: Principal Joseph Olan at Sacred Heart as he prepares for the first day of school in Uvalde. Last: Polycarbonate bullet-resistant sheeting covers the outside of Sacred Heart Parish School classroom windows on Aug. 14, 2022. Credit: Evan L’Roy/ The Texas Tribune

The school has received donations to put up a fence around the campus, bulletproof the windows and door and install a new security camera system.

“These are the primary reasons why families are coming,” Olan said.

It’s not clear how many students Uvalde CISD will be losing this next school year. In Texas, schools are funded based on the number of students enrolled and the daily attendance on campus. Schools receive a base allotment of $6,160 per student each year. Any dip in enrollment means less money for the school district.

Diana Olvedo-Karau, who works in the school district’s transportation department, said homeschooling in Uvalde has not been common. But more people are talking about it now.

Olvedo-Karau is concerned over the funding the district will lose if children are pulled out, but she understands why parents might do it.

Uvalde school officials did not immediately respond to The Texas Tribune’s request for enrollment numbers for this upcoming school year.

Uvalde parent Tina Quintanilla, 41, plans to use a private online school company, K12 , for her daughter’s instruction this next year. She also has a son who requires special education classes, and she still hasn’t found a school for him. Quintanilla is a graduate of Uvalde High School, home of the “Fighting Coyotes & Lobos,” so the decision to look at alternatives wasn’t easy.

“It’s heart-wrenching because we’re coyote pride here,” she said, referring to the high school’s mascot. “We’re loyal and true.”

Reporter Ariana Perez-Castells contributed to this story.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2022 The Texas Tribune Festival , happening Sept. 22-24 in Austin. Explore the schedule of 100+ mind-expanding conversations coming to TribFest, including the inside track on the 2022 elections and the 2023 legislative session, the state of public and higher ed at this stage in the pandemic, why Texas suburbs are booming, why broadband access matters, the legacy of slavery, what really happened in Uvalde and so much more. See the program.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/15/uvalde-parents-back-to-school/ .

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Emmanuel Dennis: Nottingham Forest sign Watford striker before announcing Cheikhou Kouyate on free transfer

August 13, 2022 by www.skysports.com Leave a Comment

Nottingham Forest have completed the signing of Nigeria striker Emmanuel Dennis from Watford.

The 24-year-old scored 10 goals for the Hornets in the Premier League last season but could not help to keep them up.

Dennis featured in Watford’s opening two Sky Bet Championship matches but did not feature in the squad for Friday night’s win over Burnley as he finalised a switch to the City Ground.

“Nottingham Forest is delighted to confirm the signing of striker Emmanuel Dennis from Watford,” a club statement read.

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With Emmanuel Dennis joining Nottingham Forest, we take a look at his best goals from his debut season in the Premier League.

No terms were disclosed by Forest, with a reported £20m fee having been agreed.