Introduction to RSA Encryption
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Learn the fundamentals of RSA encryption and why it's important in modern cryptography.
What is RSA Encryption?
RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) is one of the first public-key cryptosystems and is widely used for secure data transmission. The security of RSA is based on the practical difficulty of factoring the product of two large prime numbers.
Key Insight: Unlike symmetric encryption that uses the same key for encryption and decryption, RSA uses a pair of keys: a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption.
Public Key
Shared openly
Used for
Encryption
Securing data
Private Key
Kept secret
Used for
Decryption
Retrieving data
Why is RSA Important?
- Enables secure communication over insecure channels
- Forms the foundation of many internet security protocols
- Provides digital signatures for authentication
- Solves the key distribution problem of symmetric encryption
RSA in Daily Life
RSA encryption is used in various applications you interact with daily:
Test Your Understanding
1. RSA encryption is based on which mathematical problem?
2. In RSA, which key is shared publicly?