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Public Key Cryptography

Public key cryptography allows two parties to communicate securely without having to share a private key beforehand. It works by each party generating a public and private key pair, with the public key being shared openly and the private key remaining secret. A sender can encrypt a message using the recipient's public key, and only that recipient's private key can decrypt it. A public key infrastructure is needed to reliably bind public keys to users' identities to prevent spoofing. Encryption and decryption algorithms work on large blocks of data using keys of similar size based on hard mathematical problems.

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31 views6 pages

Public Key Cryptography

Public key cryptography allows two parties to communicate securely without having to share a private key beforehand. It works by each party generating a public and private key pair, with the public key being shared openly and the private key remaining secret. A sender can encrypt a message using the recipient's public key, and only that recipient's private key can decrypt it. A public key infrastructure is needed to reliably bind public keys to users' identities to prevent spoofing. Encryption and decryption algorithms work on large blocks of data using keys of similar size based on hard mathematical problems.

Uploaded by

black smith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Public Key Cryptography

Introduction
Public Key Cryptography
Unlike symmetric key, there is no need
for Alice and Bob to share a common
secret
Alice can convey her public key to Bob in a
public communication:
Encrypting w/ Public Keys
Public key schemes encrypt large blocks
of data:
Smallest system with reasonable security has
block sizes at least 160 bits (Elliptic Curves)
Key size generally equal to or close to block
size
Orders of magnitude less efficient than
symmetric key encryption
Why public key?
 The reason public keys are used is to
establish secure communication when there is
no way to exchange a key beforehand.
 Confidential/authenticated channels for free?
 Must ensure that the public key belongs to the
correct party (binding of identity to key). The
public key directory may be corrupted:
Solution: Use a Public Key Infrastructure to
certify your keys (PKI)
Encryption: Details
Alice knows Bob’s public key PBob
Uses the encryption algorithm:
Enc(PBob, Message) = C
Anybody may encrypt messages that
only Bob may read, since he knows the
private key SBob
Message = Dec(SBob, C)
How does Bob know SBob?
How did Bob come to know his private
key to start with?
The answer is that Bob generates the pair
(PBob, SBob) jointly. The key generation
procedure is probabilistic and one-way.
The security of such methods is closely
related to a class of mathematical
problems from modular arithmetic

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