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My Keys
/keys/

I use GnuPG for email encryption and signing. I also use it to sign various other things, such as documents, code, and this blog.

I use different keys for different things (e.g. different keys for my personal email and work email, different one for signing Qubes commits, and yet another for signing of this blog). Typically these keys are kept in different VMs, and often still separate from the VMs where they are actually being used thanks to Qubes Split GPG feature.

The Master Key

All my keys are signed by the following Master Signing Key:

pub   4096R/D9AFBB99 2015-02-07
      Key fingerprint = ED72 7C30 6E76 6BC8 5E62  1AA6 5FA6 C3E4 D9AF BB99
uid                  Joanna Rutkowska (Master Signing Key)

This key is also attached to this repo in the key/ directory. You should verify the fingerprint of this master key using some other channel than just this blog (e.g. my Twitter account, or a Qubes Mailing List) as in case somebody was providing you with a falsified repo, they would be sure to also feed you with a falsified master key.

Email encryption keys

The following is my GPG key for work-related email communication:

pub  4096R/0DDC6718  created: 2015-02-07  expires: 2016-02-07  usage: SC  
                     trust: ultimate      validity: ultimate
sub  4096R/0E467029  created: 2015-02-07  expires: 2016-02-07  usage: E   
[ultimate] (1). Joanna Rutkowska (ITL Email Key) <[email protected]>

gpg> check
uid  Joanna Rutkowska (ITL Email Key) <[email protected]>
sig!3        0DDC6718 2015-02-07  [self-signature]
sig!         D9AFBB99 2015-02-07  Joanna Rutkowska (Master Signing Key)

Blog signing key

The following key is used to sign this blog repo:

pub  4096R/FF112935  created: 2015-02-07  expires: never       usage: SC  
                     trust: ultimate      validity: ultimate
                     [ultimate] (1). Joanna Rutkowska (Blog Signing Key)

gpg> check
uid  Joanna Rutkowska (Blog Signing Key)
sig!3        FF112935 2015-02-07  [self-signature]
sig!         D9AFBB99 2015-02-07  Joanna Rutkowska (Master Signing Key)

Note on lack of expiration date on code-signing keys

My signing keys (e.g. blog or Qubes code signing keys) do not have expiration dates. This is not laziness. There is a fundamental problem with using an expiration date on keys used for code signing (e.g. git tag -s), because it is unclear what the outcome should be when one verifies some old code (written and signed when the key was still valid) in the future when the key has already expired?

Naturally we would like the old code, written and signed when the key was still valid, to continue to verify fine also in the future, after the key expires (and the developer passed away, perhaps). However, it is very problematic to prevent the attacker from creating falsified code pretending to be an old one.

Other keys

There is a bunch of other keys in the keys/ directory -- these are implicitly signed by my master key by being part of this (tag-signed) repo.

Other notes

  • I proudly use empty passphrases on all of my private keys. This is because if somebody was able to execute malicious code in the VM where a private key lives, then the key should be considered compromised no matter how complex passphrase I used to protect it. Passphrases on private keys are classic example of Security Theater in my opinion.

  • I have included also the Qubes Master Signing Key in this repo here. I don't consider it proper to sign it with my personal Master Key, or, especially, the other way around. It is signed implicitly by being part of this (signed) repo though.