It's not too hard, at least not on Linux and for anyone with some familiarity with the terminal. Getting started can be done like this... Install GPG: sudo

It's not too hard, at least not on Linux and for anyone with some familiarity with the terminal. Getting started can be done like this... Install GPG: sudo apt-get install gnupg Generate a key: gpg --gen-key Export your public key as ASCII text and then post it somewhere publicly: gpg --armor --export $your_uid > your_public_key.gpg Import my public key: gpg --import my_public_key.gpg Verify my key by viewing my fingerprint (type fpr) and confirming it with me, then sign it (type sign): gpg --edit-key $my_uid Encrypt the file message.txt and then send message.gpg to me via any medium: gpg --output message.gpg --encrypt --recipient $my_uid message.txt Decrypt my response to you: gpg --output response.txt --decrypt response.gpg I know that's pretty complicated for an average user, but it's not harder than any of the day to day work that we do as programmers. I have not used GPG in years though since my deep web adventures, so hopefully I didn't mess anything up and prove the point that GPG is too hard!