1. Key rotation and expiry
Long‑lived PGP keys are attractive targets: if compromised, they expose years of past communication. Some TorZon vendors and admins periodically rotate keys or set expiry dates to limit this exposure.
Rotation only works if new fingerprints are clearly communicated and verified – otherwise, it creates fresh opportunities for impersonation.
2. Signed announcements and mirror lists
Markets often sign announcements about downtime, mirror URLs or policy changes using a well‑known PGP key. Researchers then verify those signatures to check whether a new TorZon onion address or mirror list is likely to be genuine.
However, if law‑enforcement or attackers ever gain access to the signing key, they can publish “official” messages of their own, turning this trust mechanism into a trap.
3. Revocation certificates
PGP supports revocation certificates that allow a key owner to publicly mark a key as no longer trustworthy. In theory, TorZon‑style markets can use revocation to signal that an admin or vendor key has been compromised.
In practice, many darknet‑market users never learn about or verify revocation status, leaving them vulnerable to continued use of broken keys.
4. Metadata leakage via key servers and headers
Uploading keys to public key servers or using email‑style PGP front‑ends can reveal IP addresses, mail headers and other metadata that links TorZon identities back to clearnet infrastructure.