There are two basic types of cryptography:
| Security Key |
Secret key, conventional or symmetric cryptography requires each party communicating with each other party to either meet beforehand or arrange the secure transport of secret keys (numbers) with which to encrypt data. Distributing secret keys is cumbersome and essentially infeasible, except in very limited circumstances such as bank-to-bank transactions, when applied to e-commerce systems where millions of users need to communicate daily with hundreds of thousands of merchants and banks. It is the equivalent of sending paper messages in a locked box to which each of the parties all have the same key.
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Public Key |
| Public key cryptography operates analogous to standard padlock. The intended recipient of messages could give an unlocked padlock to friends. The friends could then snap this padlock shut on a box containing a secret message. Only the key holder can then open the box. |
Read about the security of modern cryptography.
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