GNUPG

If you are sending files or documents with sensitive information (eg. database credentials), you probably don’t want to send it without making sure it is encrypted. In Linux and OSX, I use a tool called GnuPG to add password protection to files I want to share with other people. This is, by no means, the best way to send sensitive information to someone else, but it does provide a small layer of protection against an unintended recipient opening and reading the contents.

Install GnuPG

For Ubuntu, fire up a terminal and run:

sudo apt-get install gpg

For OSX, install Homebrew and run:

brew install gpg

Encrypting Files

To encrypt a sensitive file, navigate to the directory of the file and run:

gpg -c sensitive.txt

Output:

Enter passphrase: 
Repeat passphrase:

If all is well, GnuPG will create an encrypted file named sensitive.txt.gpg. If someone tries to open and read the contents, they will get nothing but gibberish!

Decrypting Files

To decrypt a file, navigate to the directory of the file and run:

gpg sensitive.txt.gpg

Output:

gpg: CAST5 encrypted data
Enter passphrase:

Now, enter the passphrase set for the file during encryption. Voila! The file is now decrypted as sensitive.txt.

Note: You may get the following: gpg: WARNING: message was not integrity protectedHowever it doesn’t affect the result.