PGP Encryption Basis for Systems Engineer’s
February 28, 2020Overview:
This two-day course is designed to provide Sales Engineers with the basic underlying technology of PGP as well as its features and functions. All topics are supported by hands-on exercises specifically designed to increase knowledge retention, which includes discussions of algorithms used in PGP, key creation and distribution, and the use of encryption and digital signatures to secure information and communications. Students are provided the opportunity to install and configure these products within a networked Windows NT lab environment.
Course Topical Outline
Security Principles & Technology
Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability
Cryptography & its role
What a key is & does
Secret keys & public keys
Symmetric & asymmetric encryption
Keys used in PGP
Importance of key size & life
How public & private keys work together
Hashes, fingerprints & signatures
Algorithms used in PGP
How public key encryption works in PGP
PGP keys & X.509 certificates
Web of trust vs. hierarchical model
PGP Backgrounder
Brief history of PGP
Issues, what’s new
PGP version compatibility
Supported applications
Diffie-Hellman vs. RSA functionality
IPSEC standards & PGPnet
Export control laws concerning PGP
PGP Advanced Functionality
- Setting options
- Random seed generation
- Additional decryption keys
- Designated revoker keys
- Corporate signing keys
- Splitting key shares
- Configuring & using PGPnet VPN
- PGP Command line
PGP Disk
- Creating & using a PGP volume
- Using PGP wipe
- Automated freespace wiping
Requesting X.509 certificates for PGP keys
PGP Desktop Basics
Installing PGP
PGP menus & toolbar
Generating key pairs
Protecting your passphrase
Three methods to distribute public keys
Three methods to obtain public keys
Signing and verifying files and emails
Encrypting and decrypting email and files
Reviewing PGPlog
Fingerprint word list
Validity vs. trust
Icons & what they mean
Creating photo ID’s
Conventional encryption using passphrases
Self-decrypting archives
Clipboard functionality
Using secure viewer
Creating distribution groups
Creating Custom PGP Clients
- Implementing policy through PGP
- Configuring the client install with Admin Wizard
- Installing and using a custom PGP client
Certificate Server
- Role of the certificate server
- Installing and configuring
- Monitoring and logging
- Using replication within an organization
Policy Management Agent Server
- Role of the PMA server
- Implementation issues
Course Goals and Objectives
PGP Course Goals
System Engineers completing this course should be able to describe basic underlying technology, and satisfactorily demonstrate and explain product features and functions in a customer environment.
PGP Course Objectives
A student who successfully completes this course should be able to perform the following:
PRINCIPLES, TECHNOLOGY, BACKGROUND
Describe and explain:
- Three basic principles of security and how PGP meets that requirement
- What a key is, types of keys used, importance of key size
- The differences between symmetric and asymmetric encryption
- How public/private key encryption works in PGP
- What algorithms are incorporated and what function they perform
- What a hash, fingerprint, digital signature and certificate are
- Brief history of PGP & the impact of export controls
- Trust models for PGP keys and X.509 certificates
- Interoperability with X.509 certificates
- IPSEC standards and its role in PGP VPN
PRODUCT FEATURES & FUNCTIONS
Demonstrate and explain:
- Installing and configuring PGP Desktop
- PGP menus and toolbar functions
- Creating and distributing keys
- Signing and verifying email and application files
- Encrypting and decrypting email and application files
- Creating and using PGPdisk to secure files
- Using PGP wipe to securely erase files
- Creating distribution groups
- Revoking keys and designating revokers
- Using key shares, corporate signing and additional decryption keys
- Using PGP Command line
- Using peer to peer virtual private networking (PGP VPN)
- Configuring and deploying custom PGP clients using PGP Admin Wizard
- Installing and configuring PGP certificate server
- Administering and replicating certificate server