CODEWITHSUNDEEP
encryptiongnupg
Mephisto
Mephisto

Reputation: 680

Encrypting files for long term archival purpose. Is gpg a bad idea?

I have to encrypt some files for archival purposes, and I need to make sure I will be able to decrypt them in 10 to 20 years from now.

I am using gpg in linux. Is that a bad idea? Is each new version of gpg backwards compatible up to the very first protocols it implemented?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 466

Answers (1)

legolegs
legolegs

Reputation: 275

GnuPG exist for 20 years already. It is unlikely for such free software project to become unsupported in next 20 years or even more so to disappear from the Internet. Also there is (original) proprietary PGP to which GnuPG was designed to be compatible with.

GnuPG will be fine, IMHO.

You should be more concern about other dangers:

  1. A ciphers can become less reliable in the future;

  2. A storage medium can degrade over time. I suggest you to apply some redundancy to your encrypted archives with tools like par2;

  3. A hardware we are using today will almost certainly obsolete in years.

Upvotes: 2

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