Evolution and Advancement of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) has undergone extensive evolution and advancement because its inception in 1991. Developed with the aid of Phil Zimmermann, PGP was to start with conceived as a tool to permit stable communique and protect man or woman privacy in the face of developing concerns approximately authorities surveillance and statistics interception.
- Early Development (1991-1996): PGP turned into first launched as freeware, allowing users to encrypt and decrypt e-mail messages and files the usage of public-key cryptography. This early version of PGP utilized the RSA algorithm for public-key encryption and the IDEA cipher for symmetric-key encryption. Despite its groundbreaking skills, PGP faced prison demanding situations due to export regulations on cryptographic software.
- International Expansion and Standardization (1996-2000): In 1997, PGP changed into acquired with the aid of Network Associates Inc. (NAI), which continued its improvement and improved its international presence. During this period, PGP have become a de facto preferred for e mail encryption and digital signatures, with support for multiple platforms and electronic mail customers. The OpenPGP standard, primarily based on the original PGP protocol, changed into established to make certain interoperability and compatibility among specific implementations of PGP.
- Open Source Development (2000-Present): In response to concerns about the proprietary nature of PGP and the need for transparency and security, the OpenPGP Working Group become shaped to increase an open-supply version of PGP. This caused the advent of GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard), an open-supply implementation of the OpenPGP trendy. GnuPG remains actively maintained and widely used as a loose opportunity to industrial PGP software program.
- Modernization and Integration (2000s-Present): PGP has persisted to adapt in response to technological improvements and changing protection requirements. Modern versions of PGP provide stronger functions together with guide for elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), stepped forward key management, integration with cloud garage services, and compatibility with cellular gadgets. Additionally, PGP has been integrated into diverse encryption gear, steady e-mail customers, and agency safety answers, expanding its utility and reach.
The following are the services offered by PGP:
1. Authentication
2. Confidentiality
3. Email Compatibility
4. Segmentation
PGP – Authentication and Confidentiality
During 2013, the NSA (United States National Security Agency) scandal was leaked to the public, people started to opt for services that could provide a strong privacy for their data. Among the services people opted for, most particularly for Emails, were different plug-ins and extensions for their browsers. Interestingly, among the various plug-ins and extensions that people started to use, two main programs were solely responsible for the complete email security that the people needed. One was S/MIME which we will see later and the other was PGP.