If you’re capable of shopping on the darknet, you’re capable of encrypting your order. PGP provides protection for both parties, thwarting man-in-the-middle attacks and keeping prying eyes at bay. Below is a comprehensive guide on installing PGP and using it to place an encrypted order on a darknet market.
What Is PGP?
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is an encryption standard developed by Phil Zimmerman in 1991. It is widely used for signing, encrypting, and decrypting emails, documents, and files. Like Bitcoin, PGP relies on a public/private key pair. Your public key is like a wallet address, while your private key must be kept secret at all costs to verify your identity and decrypt messages.
Installing GPG Suite on Mac
For macOS users, the recommended tool is GPG Suite, which includes GPG Mail, GPG Keychain, GPG Services, and MacGPG. After downloading the ~25MB file and running the installer, open GPG Keychain to generate your first key pair. Windows users can use Gnu PG or similar open-source software instead.
Creating Your Key Pair
- Click 'New' in the top-left corner of GPG Keychain.
- Enter a name, email address, and a strong password. For darknet use, avoid real identities.
- Decide whether to upload the key to a public server. For darknet operations, select 'No' – keys uploaded cannot be removed.
- Click 'Generate key'. In a few seconds, your new key appears with 'sec/pub' and a green validity bar.
Placing an Encrypted Order on a Darknet Market
We'll use Tochka Market (accessed via dark.fail) as an example. After logging in and selecting an item, you'll see a message area for your shipping address. Do not paste it in plain text.
First, locate the vendor's PGP public key displayed above the message box (some markets place it on the vendor profile). Copy everything from -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- to -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----. Press CMD+C; the GPG Keychain icon will bounce. Click it and select 'Import'.
Now open TextEdit and paste your shipping address. Highlight the text, then right-click and choose Services > OpenPGP Encrypt Selection. In the popup, ensure only the correct vendor key is checked, then click 'Encrypt'. A garbled encrypted message appears. Copy it entirely and paste it into the darknet market's order form. Submit – only the vendor's private key can decode it.
Once you get used to it, the whole encryption process takes about 20 seconds. PGP is not just good – it's excellent, and easy once you know how.