Pretty Good Pivot - Examining the PGP Key Pair Creation Habits of Dark Net Vendors

Explore how dark net vendors' PGP key creation habits become their downfall in this conference talk from Recon Village at DEFCON 33. Discover systematic vulnerabilities in operational security practices through an investigation of over 700 vendor profiles across ten dark net markets, examining how vendors create and misuse PGP key pairs despite years of security guidance. Learn to analyze PGP public keys at scale as part of investigative workflows, identify common key pair creation mistakes made by dark net market vendors, and pivot from PGP misconfigurations to build attribution and investigative leads. Master practical OSINT techniques through live demonstrations showing how to exploit these security oversights, understand the critical role of PGP encryption for both vendors and investigators, and assess the real-world consequences when operational security fails. Gain insights into how reputation-dependent vendors continue repeating basic mistakes that compromise their anonymity, turning their most trusted security tool into a liability that investigators can systematically exploit for attribution and case building.