Setting Up PGP for Omega Market Without the Headache

PGP is the part of darknet shopping that intimidates people the most, and it does not need to be. At its core it is a pair of keys. One is public, meant to be shared, and one is private, meant to be kept. Messages encrypted with the public key can only be read with the private key, and a signature made with the private key can be verified with the public one. That is the whole idea.

Generating a key

Omega has a built-in generator, which is the easiest route. Create the key, and the market stores the public half for you and keeps the private half tied to your account. If you prefer a desktop client, Kleopatra, GPG Suite, or plain GPG all work, and the process is the same. You generate, you export the public key, and you keep the private one safe.

Uploading and using it

Upload the public key to your account. From then on, messages you send to vendors are encrypted with their public key, and messages they send you are encrypted with yours. Neither can be read by anyone without the matching private key. When you receive a signed message, your client tells you whether the signature is valid, which is how you confirm it really came from that vendor.