Public Key Cryptography
Objective
• Introduction to Public-Key Cryptography
• Why Public- Key Cryptography ?
• Differences between Symmetric and Public-
Key Cryptography
• Public-Key Applications
Private-Key Cryptography
traditional private/secret/single key
cryptography uses one key
shared by both sender and receiver
if this key is disclosed communications are
compromised
also is symmetric, parties are equal
hence does not protect sender from receiver
forging a message & claiming is sent by sender
Public-Key Cryptography
• probably most significant advance in the 3000
year history of cryptography
• uses two keys – a public & a private key
• asymmetric since parties are not equal
• uses clever application of number theoretic
concepts to function
• complements rather than replaces private key
crypto
Why Public-Key Cryptography?
• developed to address two key issues:
– key distribution – how to have secure
communications in general without having to trust
a KDC with your key
– digital signatures – how to verify a message
comes intact from the claimed sender
• public invention due to Whitfield Diffie &
Martin Hellman at Stanford Uni in 1976
– known earlier in classified community
Public-Key Cryptography
• public-key/two-key/asymmetric cryptography involves
the use of two keys:
– a public-key, which may be known by anybody, and can be
used to encrypt messages, and verify signatures
– a related private-key, known only to the recipient, used to
decrypt messages, and sign (create) signatures
• infeasible to determine private key from public
• is asymmetric because
– those who encrypt messages or verify signatures cannot
decrypt messages or create signatures
Public-Key Cryptography
Symmetric-key encryption
• Invertible function
• Security depends on the shared secret – a
particular key.
• Fast, highly secure
• Fine for repeated communication
• Poor fit for one-shot communication,
signatures
Symmetric vs Public-Key
Public-Key Cryptosystems
Public-Key Applications
• can classify uses into 3 categories:
– encryption/decryption (provide secrecy)
– digital signatures (provide authentication)
– key exchange (of session keys)
• some algorithms are suitable for all uses,
others are specific to one
Public-Key Requirements
• need a trapdoor one-way function
• one-way function has
– Y = f(X) easy
– X = f–1(Y) infeasible
• a trap-door one-way function has
– Y = fk(X) easy, if k and X are known
– X = fk–1(Y) easy, if k and Y are known
– X = fk–1(Y) infeasible, if Y known but k not known
• a practical public-key scheme depends on a
suitable trap-door one-way function
Security of Public Key Schemes
like private key schemes brute force exhaustive
search attack is always theoretically possible
but keys used are too large (>512bits)
security relies on a large enough difference in
difficulty between easy (en/decrypt) and hard
(cryptanalyse) problems
more generally the hard problem is known, but is
made hard enough to be impractical to break
requires the use of very large numbers
hence is slow compared to private key schemes
Summary
• Public key encryption provides a flexible
system for secure communication in open
environments.
• Based on one-way functions
• Allows for both authentication and signing
• Secure public key distribution remains a
problem.
