RFC 1991 (rfc1991) - Page 2 of 21
PGP Message Exchange Formats
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1991 PGP Message Exchange Formats August 1996
6.2.4 Miscellaneous fields...................................16
6.3 Compressed data packets................................17
6.4 Conventional-key-encrypted data packets................17
6.4.1 Conventional-encryption type byte......................18
6.5 Public-key-encrypted packets...........................18
6.5.1 RSA-encrypted data encryption key (DEK)................19
6.6 Public-key Packets.....................................19
6.7 User ID packets........................................20
7. Transferable Public Keys...............................20
8. Acknowledgments........................................20
9. Security Considerations................................21
10. Authors' Addresses.....................................21
1. Introduction
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) uses a combination of public-key and
conventional encryption to provide security services for electronic
mail messages and data files. These services include confidentiality
and digital signature. PGP is widely used throughout the global
computer community. This document describes the format of "PGP
files", i.e., messages that have been encrypted and/or signed with
PGP.
PGP was created by Philip Zimmermann and first released, in Version
1.0, in 1991. Subsequent versions have been designed and implemented
by an all-volunteer collaborative effort under the design guidance of
Philip Zimmermann. PGP and Pretty Good Privacy are trademarks of
Philip Zimmermann.
This document describes versions 2.x of PGP. Specifically, versions
2.6 and 2.7 conform to this specification. Version 2.3 conforms to
this specification with minor differences.
A new release of PGP, known as PGP 3.0, is anticipated in 1995. To
the maximum extent possible, this version will be upwardly compatible
with version 2.x. At a minimum, PGP 3.0 will be able to read messages
and signatures produced by version 2.x.
2. PGP Services
PGP provides four services related to the format of messages and data
files: digital signature, confidentiality, compression, and radix-64
conversion.
Atkins, et. al. Informational