How can I decrypt a message I encrypted (1.5 btc at stake)

If this in not the correct sub, please let me know.

I encrypted my address for a vendor with GNU using my key, his key. The package went to wrong address. Vendor says I gave him wrong address. I want to verify it is my mistake.

If I paste the encrypted address I gave him back into my GNU clipboard and click on decrypt, I get an error message that says, "Clipboard contained no valid encrypted data.

What am doing wrong? Surely I must be able to decrypt messages I encrypted.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit; thanks for the fast responses. Now it is my word against his. Uhhhg.


Comments


[3 Points] voluptuous_vulture:

Yes! there is a way provided you still have a copy of the encrypted message you sent to the vendor.

Have the vendor encrypt with your public key (if you don't have a public/private key pair, make one now) the plaintext address (which he gets by decrypting the encrypted message you sent him initially) he received and send it to you. The message must be exactly identical to the original plaintext for this to work.

Then you decrypt the message with your private key to get the plaintext. At this point you don't know yet if this is the message you sent him.

So you then encrypt the message with the vendor's public key. Finally, you compare the encrypted message you get with the original. A simple way of doing this is to take its hash (ex. using this tool http://www.tools4noobs.com/online_php_functions/sha1/ ) and see if the hashes match. If they do then you have "decrypted" the message. If they don't then either the vendor is lying or the original message has been tampered in some way. Something as small as a missing space will completely mess up the encrypted message.

But absolutely yes you can verify the contents of a message you encrypted with the vendors public key IF the vendor co-operates without requiring either of you to compromise your private key.


[2 Points] ethly:

You didn't use your key to encrypt, you used the vendors public key to encrypt the address, and the only person who can decrypt is the person who has the private key to that public key, who would happen to be the vendor.


[1 Points] UDNM:

You cannot decrypt messages encrypted with someone else's public key. If you encrypted a message with your vendors' public key only your vendor can decrypt it.


[1 Points] shady_varchar:

You need his private key


[0 Points] OrdinaryToaster:

No, you can't. Sorry


\OT

From /r/Panacea