How public-key encryption keeps messages private
In short: Anyone can lock a message with your public key, but only your private key can unlock it.
1. Each person has a pair of related keys: a public key and a private key. 2. The public key can be shared openly with anyone. 3. A sender uses the public key to encrypt a message. 4. Without the private key, the message looks like scrambled data. 5. Only the holder of the paired private key can decrypt it.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Public-key cryptography (Wikipedia)” (CC BY-SA 4.0). Illustrative, not to scale.
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Sources
- Source: Wikipedia — Public-key cryptography · Text summarised from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Also: Wikidata — RFC 3447: Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) #1: RSA Cryptography Specifications Version 2.1 · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — Public Key Cryptography Standards · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — International Conference on Theory and Practice in Public Key Cryptography · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — Public Key Cryptography · CC0
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