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Cybersecurity vocabulary · Encryption and Cryptography

Public-key cryptography

Meaning in cybersecurity, with examples

nounCommon term

In cybersecurity, public-key cryptography means: A type of cryptography that uses a pair of related keys: a public key that can be shared with anyone and a private key that its owner keeps secret.

In Turkish: açık anahtarlı kriptografi, asimetrik şifreleme

How it is used

Also called asymmetric cryptography, in contrast to symmetric encryption, where one shared key does both jobs. It underpins TLS, digital signatures, SSH keys and certificates. RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC) are common algorithms.

Example sentences

  1. Public-key cryptography lets the browser and the server agree on a secret without meeting first.

  2. The team is planning how its public-key cryptography will move to post-quantum algorithms.

Common collocations

  • public key
  • private key
  • key pair
  • asymmetric encryption
  • public key infrastructure
  • encryption keyA secret value, usually a long string of bits, that an encryption algorithm uses to lock and unlock data. Without it, the encrypted data cannot be read.
  • digital certificateAn electronic document that links a public key to an identity, such as a website or a person, and is signed by a trusted certificate authority.
  • digital signatureA cryptographic value attached to a message, document or file that proves who created it and shows that it has not been changed since it was signed.
  • TLSTransport Layer Security: the standard protocol that encrypts data travelling between two systems, such as a browser and a website, and checks the server's identity.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Encryption and Cryptography

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