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We create GPG signatures for all the PuTTY files distributed from our web site, so that users can be confident that the files have not been tampered with. Here we identify our public keys, and explain our signature policy so you can have an accurate idea of what each signature guarantees. This description is provided as both a web page on the PuTTY site, and an appendix in the PuTTY manual.
As of release 0.58, all of the PuTTY executables contain fingerprint material (usually accessed via the -pgpfp command-line option), such that if you have an executable you trust, you can use it to establish a trust path, for instance to a newer version downloaded from the Internet.
As of release 0.67, the Windows executables and installer also contain built-in signatures that are automatically verified by Windows' own mechanism (‘Authenticode’). The keys used for that are different, and are not covered here.
(Note that none of the keys, signatures, etc mentioned here have anything to do with keys used with SSH - they are purely for verifying the origin of files distributed by the PuTTY team.)
We maintain multiple keys, stored with different levels of security due to being used in different ways. See section E.2 below for details.
The keys we provide are:
The current issue of those keys are available for download from the PuTTY website, and are also available on PGP keyservers using the key IDs listed below.
76BC7FE4EBFD2D9E. Fingerprint: 24E1 B1C5 75EA 3C9F F752 A922 76BC 7FE4 EBFD 2D9E
6289A25F4AE8DA82. Fingerprint: E273 94AC A3F9 D904 9522 E054 6289 A25F 4AE8 DA82
38BA7229B7588FD1. Fingerprint: C92B 52E9 9AB6 1DDA 33DB 2B7A 38BA 7229 B758 8FD1
657D487977F95C98. Fingerprint: A680 0082 2998 6E46 22CA 0E43 657D 4879 77F9 5C98
The various keys have various different security levels. This section explains what those security levels are, and how far you can expect to trust each key.
The Development Snapshots private key is stored without a passphrase. This is necessary, because the snapshots are generated every night without human intervention, so nobody would be able to type a passphrase.
The snapshots are built and signed on a team member's home computers, before being uploaded to the web server from which you download them.
Therefore, a signature from the Development Snapshots key DOES protect you against:
But it DOES NOT protect you against:
Of course, we take all reasonable precautions to guard the build machines. But when you see a signature, you should always be certain of precisely what it guarantees and precisely what it does not.
The Releases key is more secure: because it is only used at release time, to sign each release by hand, we can store it encrypted.
The Releases private key is kept encrypted on the developers' own local machines. So an attacker wanting to steal it would have to also steal the passphrase.
The Secure Contact Key is stored with a similar level of security to the Release Key: it is stored with a passphrase, and no automated script has access to it.
The Master Key signs almost nothing. Its purpose is to bind the other keys together and certify that they are all owned by the same people and part of the same integrated setup. The only signatures produced by the Master Key, ever, should be the signatures on the other keys.
The Master Key is especially long, and its private key and passphrase are stored with special care.
We have collected some third-party signatures on the Master Key, in order to increase the chances that you can find a suitable trust path to them.
We have uploaded our various keys to public keyservers, so that even if you don't know any of the people who have signed our keys, you can still be reasonably confident that an attacker would find it hard to substitute fake keys on all the public keyservers at once.
Our current keys were generated in August 2018.
Each new Master Key is signed with the old one, to show that it really is owned by the same people and not substituted by an attacker.
Each new Master Key also signs the previous Release Keys, in case you're trying to verify the signatures on a release prior to the rollover and can find a chain of trust to those keys from any of the people who have signed our new Master Key.
Each release is signed with the Release Key that was current at the time of release. We don't go back and re-sign old releases with newly generated keys.
The details of all previous keys are given here.
Key generated in 2016 (when we first introduced the Secure Contact Key)
2048R/8A0AF00B (long version: 2048R/C4FCAAD08A0AF00B). Encryption subkey ID: 2048R/50C2CF5C (long version: 2048R/9EB39CC150C2CF5C). Fingerprint: 8A26 250E 763F E359 75F3 118F C4FC AAD0 8A0A F00B
Keys generated in the 2015 rollover
4096R/04676F7C (long version: 4096R/AB585DC604676F7C). Fingerprint: 440D E3B5 B7A1 CA85 B3CC 1718 AB58 5DC6 0467 6F7C
2048R/B43434E4 (long version: 2048R/9DFE2648B43434E4). Fingerprint: 0054 DDAA 8ADA 15D2 768A 6DE7 9DFE 2648 B434 34E4
2048R/D15F7E8A (long version: 2048R/EEF20295D15F7E8A). Fingerprint: 0A3B 0048 FE49 9B67 A234 FEB6 EEF2 0295 D15F 7E8A
Original keys generated in 2000 (two sets, RSA and DSA)
1024R/1E34AC41 (long version: 1024R/9D5877BF1E34AC41). Fingerprint: 8F 15 97 DA 25 30 AB 0D 88 D1 92 54 11 CF 0C 4C
1024D/6A93B34E (long version: 1024D/4F5E6DF56A93B34E). Fingerprint: 313C 3E76 4B74 C2C5 F2AE 83A8 4F5E 6DF5 6A93 B34E
1024R/B41CAE29 (long version: 1024R/EF39CCC0B41CAE29). Fingerprint: AE 65 D3 F7 85 D3 18 E0 3B 0C 9B 02 FF 3A 81 FE
1024D/08B0A90B (long version: 1024D/FECD6F3F08B0A90B). Fingerprint: 00B1 1009 38E6 9800 6518 F0AB FECD 6F3F 08B0 A90B
1024R/32B903A9 (long version: 1024R/FAAED21532B903A9). Fingerprint: 86 8B 1F 79 9C F4 7F BD 8B 1B D7 8E C6 4E 4C 03
1024D/7D3E4A00 (long version: 1024D/165E56F77D3E4A00). Fingerprint: 63DD 8EF8 32F5 D777 9FF0 2947 165E 56F7 7D3E 4A00
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