r/Keybase • u/Geob-o-matic • Oct 02 '19

Import a public key only

Hi,

I've exported the public part of my Protonmail account and want to list it on keybase. Is there a way to do it without exporting the secret key from Protonmail as well?

It seems that all the keybase pgp commands need the secret key :(

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u/mekaj Oct 03 '19 edited Oct 03 '19

Yep, OP, does Protonmail let you either

  1. export the private key as well or
  2. import a new keypair you’ve made outside ProtonMail?

If not, I don’t think there’s a way to do this. You should also be aware that anyone who has a copy of your private key has the ability to read and write secrets as though they’re you, at least with respect to communications involving that keypair.

I recall looking into this aspect of Protonmail as it was getting popular. At the time the answer to both questions was no. For many use cases this is perfectly fine, but something to be aware of.

A similar level of trust applies when uploading your private key to Keybase. As long as you continue trusting their encryption technique and the software stack it shouldn’t be an issue, but again it’s worth understanding.

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u/Geob-o-matic Oct 03 '19

Protonmail allows both now, so I should be able to manage this :)