Robo-FTP User's Guide > Appendix > Security > PGP Encryption and Decryption > PGP Concepts

PGP encrypted files may contain digital signatures. Digital signatures enable the recipient of a file to verify the authenticity of the information's origin, and also verify that the information has not been tampered with. A digital signature also prevents the sender from claiming that he or she did not actually send the information. Therefore, A digital signature serves the same purpose as a handwritten signature in that it attests to the contents of the information as well as to the identity of the signer. The signature verifies that as long as the senders private key has not been compromised they sent it.

When decrypting a file in Robo-FTP you can specify that digital signatures are required, optional, or ignored.

Important

Validating a digital signature requires access to the public key that matches the private key originally used to create the signature. Robo-FTP can only validate signatures when a copy of the PGP public key has been imported on the PGP menu in the Configurator.