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public-key cryptography

Cryptosystem that uses both public and private keys

EntityQ201339

Also known as asymmetric cryptography

Subclass of: cryptosystem

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is the field of cryptographic systems that use pairs of related keys. Each key pair consists of a public key and a corresponding private key. Key pairs are generated with algorithms based on mathematical problems termed one-way functions. Security of public-key cryptography depends on keeping the private key secret; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security. There are many kinds of public-key cryptosystems, with different security goals, including digital signature, Diffie–Hellman key exchange, public-key key encapsulation, and public-key encryption.

Overview

All data

39 statements · 26% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

ACM Classification Code (2012): 10011745
Uses: key pair reason for preferred rank: most inclusive value
public key
Named after: public key

On other databases

29 identifiers linking public-key cryptography across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

26%

externally sourced

Source last edited September 15, 2026. AIDb refreshes this page daily.

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AIDb. (2026). public-key cryptography (Q201339). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/public-key-cryptography-Q201339