GPG Suite 2019.2

GPG Suite lets you send encrypted email and manage encryption tools. It is a collection of utilities that use GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) to sign, verify, encrypt and decrypt files and communications. In this respect, what makes GPG Suite advantageous is that it provides a graphic user interface to deal with this, otherwise you would probably need to use the command line for similar purposes.

The suite comprises several tools: GPGServices, GPGMail, GPG Keychain, GPG Preferences and MacGPG2. One of the main apps in the collection is GPG Keychain. As its name suggests, you can use it to manage your keys. It lets you generate your own keys, specifying key type, length and expiry date. Likewise, you can use the app to import keys from external servers as well as to share keys with other people.

Most of the advantages of GPG Suite are derived from those of the tool it is based on. It is good to know that GPG is considered one of the most reliable encryption applications. In this regard, it supports public key cryptography, symmetrical key algorithms, cryptographic hash functions and compression. Likewise, it lets you encrypt an entire volume or just individual files. Since it supports paired keys, it also contributes to securing your communication.

However, the suite also inherits some of GPG disadvantages. One critical issue is that public key servers are currently overwhelmed with what appears to be an avalanche of spams, which makes downloading keys from them quite time-demanding. more