Hello, > On Wed, Jan 02, 2019 at 04:02:03PM +1100, gn...@raf.org wrote: >> For some dumb reason I think I was hoping that the RSA >> algorithm wasn't really used to encrypt all the data. I >> thought it was probably used to encrypt a per-file >> randomly-generated symmetric key which was then used to >> encrypt the file (and was encrypted along with the >> file) because it could be faster. But I think I'm >> confusing it with network protocols like TLS. >> >> Is that what happens with RSA in gpg? [Probably not] > > Actually yes, that’s exactly what happens. The data (in your > case, the contents of your file) is symmetrically encrypted using > a randomly generated “session key”, and *that* key is > asymmetrically encrypted using the RSA public key.
Yep, to see this behind-the-scenes thing in action check out "--show-session-key" and "--override-session-key" options. Described here: https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gnupg/GPG-Esoteric-Options.html Kind regards, Wiktor -- https://metacode.biz/@wiktor _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
