NET 4000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12.6.2: Vincent Rijmen, Sha-2, Key Distribution
Document Summary
Encryption is a security technique that encodes information so that only someone with the proper key can decode it. Symmetric key encryption (also known as secret key encryption, pre-shared key or private key encryption) uses only one key to encrypt and decrypt data. Symmetric encryption is well suited for bulk encryption, because it is less cpu-intensive and much faster than other encryption methods. Before communications begin, both parties must exchange the shared secret key using a secure channel. This is often done manually or with some form of asymmetric key cryptography. Each pair of communicating entities requires a unique shared key. As the number of bits in the key increases, so does the strength of the encryption. However, the greater the number of bits in the key, the more cpu resources are required to perform the encryption. Asymmetric encryption (also known as public key encryption) uses two keys that are mathematically related.
