Asymmetric Encryption

Cryptography · Advanced

A key-pair design in which the public key and the private key have different roles. One can be shared widely, and the other must stay secret.

You can publish one key so others can encrypt to you or check your signatures. The matching private key stays secret and does the opposite job.

Example: RSA and elliptic-curve keys are asymmetric. A website publishes the public key in a certificate and keeps the private key on the server.

Common misconception

The public key is not a password you can type into a login form. It is one half of a mathematical pair.