!!! Overview

In [{$pagename}] encryption and decryption, each participant possesses a private and a public key. 

Messages encrypted with the [Private Key] can only be decrypted with the corresponding [Public Key]. 

Messages encrypted with the [Public Key] can only be decrypted with the corresponding [Private Key].

Participants keep their [Private Keys] and distribute their [Public Keys] to other participants. 

When one participant wants to send a secure message to another, the message is encrypted with the other person's [Public Key] and sent. This is safe because the only person that can decrypt the message is the one who has the [Private Keys]. 

The other person can then send a secure message back to the first person by using the first person's [Public Key]. Only the person with the [Private Keys] can decrypt the message and that will be the first person.

Asymmetric key encryption/decryption is particularly suited to network communication because of the ease in which keys can be securely distributed. 


!! [Alice] and [Bob]

[{Image src='Asymmetric Key Cryptography/Public_key_shared_secret.svg.png' caption='Public key shared secret' align=left style='font-size: 120%}]. 
\\

!! [{$pagename}] [algorithms]
[{$pagename}] [algorithms], commonly known as [Public Key] [algorithms], use two related keys (i.e., a key pair) to perform their functions: a [Public Key] and a [Private Key]. The [Public Key] may be known by anyone; the [Private Key] should be under the sole control of the [entity] that "owns" the key pair. Even though the public and private keys of a key pair are related, knowledge of the [Public Key] cannot be used to determine the private key. [{$pagename}] [algorithms] are used, for [example],
* To compute [Digital Signatures]
* To establish [Cryptographic] [Keying material]

!! More Information
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