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Module 17: Public Key Cryptography - Coggle Diagram
Module 17: Public Key Cryptography
Concept and Principles
Public Key Cryptography (PKC) is an asymmetric enryption method that uses two keys
Public Key: Shared openly and use for encryption or verification
Private Key: Kept secret and used for decryption or signing
Based on mathematical problems like factorization or discrete logarithms, making it computationally secure.
Core Functions
Encryption and Decryption: Ensures confidentiality by encrypting data with the recipient’s public key and decrypting it with their private key.
Digital Signatures: Provides authenticity and integrity by signing data with the sender’s private key and verifying with their public key.
Key Exchange: Securely exchanges cryptographic keys, e.g., using algorithms like Diffie-Hellman or Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH).
Applications and Protocols
Widely used in SSL/TLS for secure web communication, VPNs, and secure email (e.g., PGP).
Forms the foundation of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which manages certificates and trust.
Supports blockchain technologies through secure transactions and digital identities.
Benefits and Challenges
Benefits: Ensures confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation. Eliminates the need for secure initial key exchange.
Challenges:
Computationally intensive compared to symmetric encryption.
Reliant on secure management of private keys and trusted certificate authorities (CAs).
Susceptible to future threats like quantum computing, which could break current PKC algorithms.