Email Self-Defense: Because Apparently We Have to Encrypt Everything Ourselves

## DEFCON Group DCG518 wants to share an invite with the community. This Saturday, September 19th 2026 we are presenting:

## Email Self-Defense: Because Apparently We Have to Encrypt Everything Ourselves

Your email provider has a copy. Your network provider may have a copy. Somewhere, a server is making decisions about who gets to see your data.
Cool! Let's fix that.

This is a hands-on workshop in GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) email encryption, facilitated by the Free Software Foundation. We’ll spend just enough time on public-key cryptography to understand what the hell is happening, how emails work, then get our hands dirty.
You’ll take an existing email address, generate and manage your keys, configure encryption, and send an actual encrypted message.

By the end, you won’t just know how to encrypt your own email. You’ll know how to help someone else do it, which is important, because cryptography is considerably less useful when you're the only person in your contact list using it.

No magic. No proprietary black box. No “trust us.”
Just keys, math, encrypted mail, and the mildly unsettling realization that protecting your own communications is apparently a hands-on skill.

Our friends, Greg Farough and Heshan de Silva-Weeramuni from the Free Software Foundation will share their knowledge. Bring a laptop. Bring an email account. Bring your paranoia. We'll bring the crypto (BTW, crypto means cryptography LOL)

• For more DEFCON DCG518 Group information and updates, check our site https://dc518.github.io/
• Doors open at 1:30pm for social hang out. The presentation starts sharp at 3pm. The Guilderland Public Library is located at 2228 Western Avenue, Guilderland, New York 12084
• This event is free and open to all the community. No attendee limits.