Is anyone here using it yet? Anyone planning to use it? I just recently got an invite and I've been super stoked to try it out!
For those who don't know, keybase is pretty much a website that makes encryption, decryption, signing and verification of messages and files very convenient.
It stores your public key visible for everyone and links it to your identities on github, reddit, twitter and a few more sites. This means that you don't need your own website to make the public key available, everyone who knows your handle on the supported networks can search for it on keybase and start end-to-end encrypted messaging with you.
For example, this is my page: https://keybase.io/ifreilicht
That profile is undeniably linked to me. If you encrypt a message with my public key, you know I will be the only person on the world who can read it. The nice thing is that you don't even need special tools, you don't need to download anything. You can write your message in the browser and click one button that will sign and encrypt the message for you. As you need to sign with your private key, it is stored on their servers to in encrypted form, and can only be decrypted with your passphrase, so you have to type that in every time you sign something or decrypt a message.
Here's an example:
This message was encrypted for Chris Coyne, one of keybase's developers, and signed by me. Nobody except him will be able to read it, and if he does, he can be 100% sure that it was actually written by me by verifying the signature, which can also be done on the website itself.
A nice addition to keybase is the filesystem, where you can store public and private files. Public files are just that, public for everyone to read, but they're all signed. Private files are encrypted with your public key, so you only you can open and see them. And you can have shared private folders, for example /keybase/private/ifreilicht,chris which can only be seen by the users in the name.
I think it's a pretty cool service and has the potential to get more people to use cryptography who would've never bothered before (like myself). Actually, I've got a few invites to spare, so if you'd like to use it, just PM me.
For those who don't know, keybase is pretty much a website that makes encryption, decryption, signing and verification of messages and files very convenient.
It stores your public key visible for everyone and links it to your identities on github, reddit, twitter and a few more sites. This means that you don't need your own website to make the public key available, everyone who knows your handle on the supported networks can search for it on keybase and start end-to-end encrypted messaging with you.
For example, this is my page: https://keybase.io/ifreilicht
That profile is undeniably linked to me. If you encrypt a message with my public key, you know I will be the only person on the world who can read it. The nice thing is that you don't even need special tools, you don't need to download anything. You can write your message in the browser and click one button that will sign and encrypt the message for you. As you need to sign with your private key, it is stored on their servers to in encrypted form, and can only be decrypted with your passphrase, so you have to type that in every time you sign something or decrypt a message.
Here's an example:
Code:
-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: Keybase OpenPGP v2.0.53
Comment: https://keybase.io/crypto
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-----END PGP MESSAGE-----This message was encrypted for Chris Coyne, one of keybase's developers, and signed by me. Nobody except him will be able to read it, and if he does, he can be 100% sure that it was actually written by me by verifying the signature, which can also be done on the website itself.
A nice addition to keybase is the filesystem, where you can store public and private files. Public files are just that, public for everyone to read, but they're all signed. Private files are encrypted with your public key, so you only you can open and see them. And you can have shared private folders, for example /keybase/private/ifreilicht,chris which can only be seen by the users in the name.
I think it's a pretty cool service and has the potential to get more people to use cryptography who would've never bothered before (like myself). Actually, I've got a few invites to spare, so if you'd like to use it, just PM me.
