Public key ciphers are usually slower than secret key ciphers.
next → ← prev Show In this article, we are going to discuss public key, private key and the difference between them. Private keys and public keys both terms are commonly used for encryption and decryption. So, it is very important to know about both keys and the difference between them. Public keyIt is an encryption technique that uses a pair of keys (public and private key) for secure data communication. In the pair of keys, the public key is for encrypting the plain text to convert it into ciphertext, and the private key is used for decrypting the ciphertext to read the message. The private key is given to the receiver while the public key is provided to the public. Public Key Cryptography is also known as asymmetric cryptography. The public key can be shared without compromising the security of the private one. All asymmetric key pairs are unique, so a message encrypted with a public key can only be read by the person who has the corresponding private key. The keys in the pair have much longer than those used in symmetric cryptography. So, it is hard to decipher the private key from its public counterpart. Many of us, heard about RSA, which is the most common algorithm for asymmetric encryption in use today. Public-key encryption is slower than secret-key encryption. In secret key encryption, a single shared key is used to encrypt and decrypt the message, while in public-key encryption, different two keys are used, both related to each other by a complex mathematical process. Therefore, we can say that encryption and decryption take more time in public-key encryption. Applications of public keyThe applications of public key are -
Private KeyIn private key, the same key (or secret key) is used by both the parties, i.e., the sender and receiver, for Encryption/Decryption technique. The sender uses the secret key and encryption algorithm for encryption, whereas for decryption, the receiver uses this key and decryption algorithm. In Secret Key Encryption/Decryption technique, the algorithm used for encryption is the inverse of the algorithm used for decryption. It means that if the combination of addition and multiplication is used in the encryption algorithm, then the decryption algorithm will use the combination of subtraction and division. The secret key encryption algorithm is also known as symmetric encryption algorithm because the same secret key is used in bidirectional communication. The mechanism of private key is faster than the mechanism of public-key cryptography. The reason for this is that the size of the key is small. Public key v/s Private keyThat's about the description of both public and private keys. Now, let's see the comparison chart between both keys. We are comparing both keys based on some characteristics.
Next TopicDifference between ← prev next → Is public key encryption slower?Public key encryption is a much slower alternative to symmetric cryptography. Its based upon mathematical functions upon two pairs of numbers. For the well-known RSA algorithm, the security comes from the difficulty of factoring large numbers in Galois Fields.
Why is private key faster than public key?We use a private key for both- encryption and decryption of the available data. Thus, this type of key gets shared between the receiver and the sender. We only use a public key to encrypt data, and we need to use a shared private key for decrypting it. The mechanism here is much faster.
Are public keys faster?The private key is faster than the public key. It is slower than a private key. 2. In this, the same key (secret key) and algorithm are used to encrypt and decrypt the message.
Is secret key encryption more efficient than public key?The private key mechanism is faster. The public key mechanism is slower. The private key is kept secret and not public to anyone apart from the sender and the receiver. The public key is free to use and the private key is kept secret only.
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