Once the installation is complete, open a Terminal window and type gpg, then hit. This is the actual encryption engine that everything else runs on. Here are the things I downloaded (you should got to the downloads page and get the latest):įirst, open the DMG for GPG that you downloaded and run the installer. Now, start downloading and installing! I've adapted the information from the Mac GPG FAQ, so you can also go there for more details. For other operating systems, you can check the links on. If you're on OS X, open that link in another window and get ready. I used the instructions and downloads at and summarized the process below.
I got GPG working on Mac OS X without too much trouble. Getting Gmail set up is on the next step. First, we have to get GPG installed on our operating system. Like I said before, getting your email protected is a two-step process. This is often referred to as a web of trust. Then you have a list of trusted public keys with which you can communicate. You all show up at a given location at a given time and exchange public keys. One of doing this is by having a key signing party with your close friends. Of course, this only works so long as you can trust that you have been given the right public key and that you know who you are talking to. If they want to respond, then they encode the message with your public key and you can read it with your private key. To send an encrypted message to someone you lock the message with their public key and when they get it, they can unlock it with their private key. The two keys work together so that you need both to decrypt anything. Your private key is the part of the encryption that you never share with anyone under any circumstance. Your public key is the part of the encryption that you make public. Anyone who wants to play creates a public key and a private key. The principle behind GPG encryption is easy.