This article was published on June 1, 2015

Facebook now lets you put a PGP key on your profile and uses it to encrypt notifications


Facebook now lets you put a PGP key on your profile and uses it to encrypt notifications
Ben Woods
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Ben Woods

Europe Editor

Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional online poker player. You can contact him via Twitter or on Google+.

Facebook announced today that users can start listing their OpenPGP keys directly on their profile for enhanced email security.

The ‘experimental’ feature allows end-to-end encrypted notification emails from Facebook to your email accounts. You can list your OpenPGP key on your profile whether or not you choose to switch on the encrypted messages feature.

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If encrypted notifications are enabled, the company will sign outbound messages with its own key.

In order to manage your PGP key, you’ll have to use a desktop, but Facebook is looking into public key management on mobile devices for the future.

Securing Email Communications from Facebook [Facebook]

Read next: Facebook ‘Marauder’s Map’ turns Messenger into a stalker’s dream

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