PGP is a widely known software program using which one can sign, encrypt, and decrypt documents, texts, or emails. It can even be used to encrypt a whole disk. But, we often see the terms PGP, OpenPGP, and GnuPG. Are they the same, or are they different? What is the difference between PGP, OpenPGP, and GnuPG? Let’s try to understand that.

What is PGP?

PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy, is a software program that was first created by Phil Zimmermann in 1991. The history of PGP is actually very rich.

After creating the program in 1991, Zimmermann and his team started a company in 1996. The company started to develop new versions of PGP. It was merged with ViaCrypt, and the company was named PGP Inc. They started developing PGP 3, which could be used with GUI.

In 1997, Network Associates Inc. acquired PGP Inc.  Zimmermann and his team became members of the company. Under Network Associates Inc., the PGP team started adding new features to the existing PGP program. It was at that time when features of Disk Encryption, Desktop Firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and IPSec VPN were added.

In 2001, Zimmermann left Network Associates Inc. In 2002, ex-PGP team members formed a new company named PGP Corp and bought most of the PGP assets from Network Associates Inc. Zimmermann now serves as a special advisor and consultant to PGP Corp.

What is OpenPGP?

OpenPGP is the standard defined by the OpenPGP Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force or IETF. The OpenPGP Working Group was formed in 1997. They defined the standard OpenPGP. PGP has been a proprietary product since 1991.

As OpenPGP became an IETF Proposed Standard, OpenPGP can now be implemented by any company without paying any license fees to anyone.

What is GnuPG?

GnuPG or GNU Privacy Guard is an OpenPGP-compliant program that the Free Software Foundation developed. GnuPG is freely available together with its source code under the …

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Amrita Mitra

Author

Ms. Amrita Mitra is an author, who has authored the books “Cryptography And Public Key Infrastructure“, “Web Application Vulnerabilities And Prevention“, “A Guide To Cyber Security” and “Phishing: Detection, Analysis And Prevention“. She is also the founder of Asigosec Technologies, the company that owns The Security Buddy.

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