OpenPGP encryption tools benefit from new developments

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One of the best known protocols for secure communication is OpenPGP. It all started with Philip Zimmerman’s creation of a public key encryption tool called PGP in 1991. Since then, ownership of the main codebase has changed hands a few times, and an encryption protocol standard called the OpenPGP standard has been created. A number of other pieces of software that implement that protocol have been created along the way as well.

For a long time, the only OpenPGP tools people used with any frequency were the official PGP and the GnuPG implementation.

In recent years, the custodians of the core PGP codebase have been PGP Corporation, and though it was operated as a closed source, commercial vendor for security software — an industry mostly filled with sketchy snake oil peddlers — PGP Corp was mostly staffed by people who liked open source software and cared about personal privacy. Customers could view the source, minus license enforcement components, which is not exactly the best practice for assurance of software security, but is a darn sight better than the way most security vendors handle things.

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