What is PGP?

PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy, is a system for encrypting and signing messages using public and private keys. The sender uses the recipient’s public key to encrypt the message, and only the recipient’s private key can unlock it.

It is two captains exchanging sealed chests that only they can open.

Created by Phil Zimmermann in 1991, PGP became famous when the US government launched a criminal investigation claiming he illegally exported strong encryption, which at the time was classified as a munition.

PGP operates on a Web of Trust model, where users vouch for each other’s keys rather than relying on a central authority.