CryptoBlocks
This article will help you install the software necessary for CryptoBlocks. CryptoBlocks are just a friendly name for data encrypted with open source cryptography software called PGP. The software is supported on Windows, OS X, or Linux. Below links are provided for Windows and OS X. The installation consists of two parts. First, you will install the GPG tool suite. Afterwards, you can then install private keys/certificates which will enable you to decrypt information regarding certain subjects. A test certificate is provided in this article in order for you to confirm your installation is working. Later you can use the process to decrypt sensitive information that can be found on other wiki articles, provided you have been given the correct keyfile for the data you're trying to access.
Windows
- Download GPG4Win from https://www.gpg4win.org/download.html. Latest version available at the time this
was written is 2.3.3. Shortcut link for the installer for that version here: https://files.gpg4win.org/gpg4win- 2.3.3.exe
- Run the installer. Select English.
- In the component selection screen, ensure you have the GPA ( GPG Privacy Assistant ). This will help you
administer keys for the CryptoBlocks.
- Download this file (File:Cryptoblocks demo.asc) to the desktop. This is a test certificate to help you confirm
the installation.
- Run the GPA either from the desktop or start menu. If you can't find it, the default path is for GNU Privacy
Assistant is C:\Program Files (x86)\GNU\GnuPG\gpa.exe.
- The first time you run GPA, you'll be prompted to generate a private key. You don't need to. Select do it later.
- Click the import button and browse to your desktop to find the cryptoblocks_demo.asc file and hit open to
import it into your keychain.
- Certificates in your keychains will help you decrypt blocks from certain articles. The article will specify
which key you need to decrypt the provided credentials. This test page uses the cryptoblocks_demo key.
- After the import, you will see a report showing how many keys were read. You should see that 1 secret key
was read.
- Now you can decrypt text anywhere encrypted with that key. If inside a wiki article, click the expand link to
show the block and copy it.
- Inside the GPA, click the clipboard button to bring up the clipboard window. Here you can paste the
encrypted text and hit decrypt to see the clear text.
- If using mac/os x, simply right clicking on the encrypted text in the browser and going to services will
present an option that will allow you to decrypt directly to a pop up window.
OS X
- Download GPG Suite from https://gpgtools.org/. Latest version available at the time this was written is 2017-
1b2. Shortcut link for the installer for that version here: https://releases.gpgtools.org/GPG_Suite-2017.1b2.dmg
- The rest is self explanatory because you're a mac user.
Test Block
After performing the steps outlined above, you should be able to successfully decrypt the following CryptoBlock.
-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Your data here
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----