[CentOS] gpg can't decrypt message

Wed Oct 1 15:19:19 UTC 2014
Nicolas Thierry-Mieg <Nicolas.Thierry-Mieg at imag.fr>


On 10/01/2014 05:16 PM, Nicolas Thierry-Mieg wrote:
> On 10/01/2014 04:58 PM, Tim Dunphy wrote:
>> Hey guys,
>>
>>
>>   Having a little gpg issue I was wondering if someone could help me
>> with.
>>
>>   A friend of mine sent me an encrypted message. So I searched online and
>> found a a set of keys that correspond with his email address. And
>> imported
>> them. But when I go to decrypt the message, this is what I get:
>>
>> [root at ops:~] #gpg --decrypt roger-message
>> gpg: encrypted with 2048-bit RSA key, ID 9617EA5C, created 2014-10-01
>>        "Roger Sherman <rsherman at viddler.com>"
>> *gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 9A41C766*
>> *gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available*
>>
> <snip>
>> So maybe I just didn't import the right key? Or do you think the message
>> wasn't sent correctly? Who's the dummy here? Me or him? :)
>
> looks like he encrypted with HIS public key. So you need his private key
> to decrypt, obviously you don't have that.
> I believe it's the other way around: he should encrpyt with your public
> key, then you are the only person capable of decrypting (with your
> private key).

BTW what would be the point of encrypting, if anyone can just grab a key 
online and decrypt? :-)