How to create Encryption Key

Encryption keys are used to secure files before they are stored in your storage. You will need to generate the Public and Private keys on your local machine before submitting the key to the SnapShooter.

By generating locally SnapShooter gains no access to your private key and can't decrypt your files without you unlocking your backup key.

Table Of Contents

• Create Encryption Key On Mac
• Create Encryption Key On Linux
• Create Encryption Key On Windows
• Install OpenSSL
• Generate Encryption Key
• Add the Encryption Keys to SnapShooter

Create Encryption Key On Mac

Follow the below steps to create an Encryption key on Linux.

Step 1 - Login to your Mac machine.

Step 2 - Once you log in, open your command interface and create a directory to store your Encryption key.

mkdir snapshooter

Step 3 - Change the directory to snapshooter-mac.

cd snapshooter

Step 4 - Run the OpenSSL command to generate a 4096-bit Private key.

openssl genrsa -aes256 -out snapshooter.pem 4096

You will be asked to set passphrase as shown below:

Generating RSA private key, 4096 bit long modulus (2 primes)
...................................++++
..++++
e is 65537 (0x010001)
Enter pass phrase for snapshooter-mac.pem:
Verifying - Enter pass phrase for snapshooter-mac.pem:

Step 5 - Run the following command to generate a Public key.

openssl rsa -in snapshooter.pem -outform PEM -pubout -out snapshooter.pub

Step 6 - Run the following command to display the content of the Public key.

cat snapshooter.pub

You will get the Public key content in the following output:

-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----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-----END PUBLIC KEY-----

Create Encryption Key On Linux

Follow the below steps to create an Encryption key on Linux.

Step 1 - Login to your Linux machine as a root user.

Step 2 - Once you log in, create a directory to store your Encryption key.

mkdir snapshooter

Step 3 - Change the directory to snapshooter.

cd snapshooter

Step 4 - Run the OpenSSL command to generate a 4096-bit Private key.

openssl genrsa -aes256 -out snapshooter.pem 4096

You will be asked to set passphrase as shown below:

Generating RSA private key, 4096 bit long modulus (2 primes)
.................................................++++
..............................................................................................................................................................++++
e is 65537 (0x010001)
Enter pass phrase for snapshooter.pem:
Verifying - Enter pass phrase for snapshooter.pem:

Step 5 - Run the following command to generate a Public key.

openssl rsa -in snapshooter.pem -outform PEM -pubout -out snapshooter.pub

Step 6 - Run the following command to display the content of the Public key.

cat snapshooter.pub

You will get the Public key content in the following output:

-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----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-----END PUBLIC KEY-----

Create Encryption Key On Windows

Install OpenSSL

By default, OpenSSL is not installed on the Windows system. So you will need to download and install OpenSSL on your system. Follow the below steps to install OpenSSL:

Step 1 - Click here to visit the OpenSSL Download page:

Step 2 - Pick the latest OpenSSL version and download it to your system.

Step 3 - Double click on the downloaded file to start the installation.

Step 4 - Accept the License agreement and click on the Next button. You should see the install location selection screen:

Step 5 - Select your location and click on the Next button. You should see the select start menu folder screen:

Step 6 - Define your start menu folder name and click on the Next button. You should see the additional task selection screen:

Step 7 - Select your preferred option and click on the Next button. You should see the ready-to-install screen:

Step 8 - Click on the Install button to install OpenSSL on your system.

Generate Encryption Key

After installing OpenSSL, follow the below steps to generate Public and Private keys on your Windows system.

Step 1 - On your Windows Desktop, search for OpenSSL as shown below:

Step 2 - Click on the Win64 OpenSSL Command Prompt. You should see the OpenSSL Command Prompt:

Step 3 - Run the following command to generate a Public and Private key:

openssl genrsa -aes256 -out snapshooter.pem 4096
openssl rsa -in snapshooter.pem -outform PEM -pubout -out snapshooter.pub

Step 4 - Now, open your generated snapshooter-windows.pub file using the Notepad editor:

Add the Encryption Keys to SnapShooter

Step 1 - First, go to the SnapShooter website and register for their 14-day free trial.

Step 2 - Go to the SnapShooter dashboard, and click on the Encryption Keys in the left sidebar. You should see the following screen:

Step 3 - Click on the Setup Key button. You should see the following screen:

Step 4 - Provide your key name, key length, select use passphrase and paste the content of the snapshooter-windows.pub file in the Public Key Content field, then click on the Save Key button. You should see your Encryption Key on the following screen: