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Public-Key Encryption | Computer Security

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Previously we saw symmetric-key encryption, where Alice and Bob share a secret key K 𝐾 and use the same key to encrypt and decrypt messages. However, symmetric-key cryptography can be inconvenient to use, because it requires Alice and Bob to coordinate somehow and establish the shared secret key. Asymmetric cryptography, also known as public-key cryptography, is designed to address this problem. In a public-key cryptosystem, the recipient Bob has a publicly available key, his public key, that everyone can access. When Alice wishes to send him a message, she uses his public key to encrypt her message. Bob also has a secret key, his private key, that lets him decrypt these messages. Bob publishes his public key but does not tell anyone his private key (not even Alice). Public-key cryptography provides a nice way to help with the key management problem. Alice can pick a secret key K 𝐾 for some symmetric-key cryptosystem, then encrypt K 𝐾 under Bob’s public key and send Bob the re

Public-Key Encryption | Computer Security Skip to main content Menu Expand (external link) Document Search Copy Copied Computer Security 11. Public-Key (Asymmetric) Encryption 11.1. Overview Previously we saw symmetric-key encryption, where Alice and Bob share a secret key \(K\) and use the same key to encrypt and decrypt messages. However, symmetric-key cryptography can be inconvenient to use, because it requires Alice and Bob to coordinate somehow and establish the shared secret key. Asymmetric cryptography , also known as public-key cryptography , is designed to address this problem. In a p

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