Then there is this `key', which appears to be fabricated, though the armor checksum checks if you modify it as follows.... -----BEGIN PLP PRIVATE KEY----- Version: Pretty Lousy Privacy v6.66 Comments: No Comment UPghm21YcptuKTiUHPwTn4xSjMKfsfVDRKwKWtx1teuauHiM/IBzWMH5+nhxhVjO gOuUIXkcJXcjr1yG2QVGWLJndKBHC3wI/eRC5zYaQGwtz97hpQ9iAJl9hpIYoeKi R/Qe8eC8vQnyOCx7Gare+OuoqLRJj5IvvS3BDShb1mr3s3U1LVEhmI9kS5br6NWY V1J3l2hCk8cdqDRZmgjUoq32mAwK/vTbijCg5Yk1CCkXO3mvia3rNeVdrYJ3/Pv9 t2jHIlAL0qAyJQMdz2qFcmvLOxB3ZiZhA+VYDaeXZ5TZNEz/K+TSU8brMInfaUKi P/R/4YerdYjN8/10xz/j/gJjgIkEddToUYjt2VQDv8E/xcXT0YJZhNWIT/u+MHVF ns9RWIH5J+UxcKPUPjDB7WvuO4+WvoT5xCtPbQhUlpuJrDfWLCjUd6orzovr6yZx HcxBSl8EGy4oULWi5ztrw1fyXm4AmpDB5QNgmWcILIbWNDOAePqxvrAjJEhLHQar y6eHYoL/nuOQonZsB66DhXnlXSghBGp+sNs3XXIOkKHtbPk1jqT9MHg9oe7OwiA4 mcQUpM3XKOPUXcMwEtRzDJnIaeZo3xbwRnmdSaGAyPujFJdz58QLHOte2pcSAkrA Jtrs+SrhZw== =zXsO -----END PLP PRIVATE KEY----- (Posted in message Subject: Re: EFF $10,000,0000 Challenge, Date: 6 Sep 97). Now, change the ----- lines to the correct, and the first 5 chars are the same on PGP public key blocks 'mQENAz' (though this claims to be a SECRET KEY BLOCK) -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: Pretty Lousy Privacy v6.66 Comments: No Comment mQENAz1YcptuKTiUHPwTn4xSjMKfsfVDRKwKWtx1teuauHiM/IBzWMH5+nhxhVjO gOuUIXkcJXcjr1yG2QVGWLJndKBHC3wI/eRC5zYaQGwtz97hpQ9iAJl9hpIYoeKi R/Qe8eC8vQnyOCx7Gare+OuoqLRJj5IvvS3BDShb1mr3s3U1LVEhmI9kS5br6NWY V1J3l2hCk8cdqDRZmgjUoq32mAwK/vTbijCg5Yk1CCkXO3mvia3rNeVdrYJ3/Pv9 t2jHIlAL0qAyJQMdz2qFcmvLOxB3ZiZhA+VYDaeXZ5TZNEz/K+TSU8brMInfaUKi P/R/4YerdYjN8/10xz/j/gJjgIkEddToUYjt2VQDv8E/xcXT0YJZhNWIT/u+MHVF ns9RWIH5J+UxcKPUPjDB7WvuO4+WvoT5xCtPbQhUlpuJrDfWLCjUd6orzovr6yZx HcxBSl8EGy4oULWi5ztrw1fyXm4AmpDB5QNgmWcILIbWNDOAePqxvrAjJEhLHQar y6eHYoL/nuOQonZsB66DhXnlXSghBGp+sNs3XXIOkKHtbPk1jqT9MHg9oe7OwiA4 mcQUpM3XKOPUXcMwEtRzDJnIaeZo3xbwRnmdSaGAyPujFJdz58QLHOte2pcSAkrA Jtrs+SrhZw== =zXsO -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- and the armor checksum checks, and pgp5 reports (the garbled): Adding keys: Key ring: 'p1.asc' Type Bits KeyID Created Expires Algorithm Use pub 37916 00000000 2002-08-13 2079-10-29 (null) uid *** This key is unnamed *** 1 matching key found which looks to be garbage; perhaps it is is just garbage with a valid public key checksum? This seems like it would require writing some software to acheive? The probability of a random checksum success on a garbled file, as the armor checksum is a 24 bit checksum is 1/2^24... quite unlikely. Ideas? Adam