Week 3a: GPG Introduction & Key Generation

Goal Understand the public-key cryptography revolution and generate your first GPG keypair. This is the foundation for everything else in the course. Prerequisites: Week 2 (Cryptography Fundamentals) This is Part 1 of 4 - Covers history, concepts, and key generation. Introduction: The Public Key Revolution Week 2 taught you symmetric encryption - Alice and Bob share the same secret key. But how do they exchange that key securely? The problem: ...

October 14, 2025 · 5 min · Cypherpunk School

Week 3b: Encryption, Decryption & Digital Signatures

Goal Master practical GPG operations: understanding your keyring, encrypting files for yourself and others, and creating digital signatures that prove authorship and integrity. Prerequisites: Week 3a (GPG Introduction & Key Generation) This is Part 2 of 4 - Covers keyring management, encryption operations, and signatures. 1. Understanding Your GPG Keyring List All Keys # List public keys gpg --list-keys # Output: pub rsa4096 2025-10-14 [SC] [expires: 2027-10-14] ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234 uid [ultimate] Alice Cypherpunk <[email protected]> sub rsa4096 2025-10-14 [E] [expires: 2027-10-14] Key anatomy: ...

October 14, 2025 · 4 min · Cypherpunk School

Week 3c: Key Distribution & Web of Trust

Goal Master public key distribution methods: exporting and importing keys, using keyservers safely, and understanding the Web of Trust model for decentralized identity verification. Prerequisites: Week 3b (Encryption & Signatures) This is Part 3 of 4 - Covers key distribution, keyservers, and web of trust. 1. Public Key Distribution and Import Export Your Public Key # Export in ASCII armor (shareable format) gpg --armor --export [email protected] > alice-public-key.asc # View the exported key cat alice-public-key.asc Output: ...

October 14, 2025 · 6 min · Cypherpunk School