* Josh Chu > I don't profess to be a RSA encryption expert by any means, but it's > quite clear that you encrypt using a known public key, and decrypt > using the cipher's private key.
that is not entirely correct. all public/private key schemes I've seen (not that many, but anyway...) use a combination of keys (a key pair). you use your own private key and the recipients public key when you encrypt. the resulting message is then sent to the recipient, and he/she is able to decrypt it using his/her private key and your public key. the difference between a symmetrical and asymmetrical cipher is whether you can take a message (M) and encrypt it using the cipher function (f()) and then redo the process with the result (R) to get the same message. in other words, with a symmetrical cipher you can do: f(M) = R f(R) = M while it cannot be done with an asymmetrical cipher. I'm no encryption expert either, so all said here is to be taken with a grain of salt (, a slice of lemon and a shot of tequila ;) Morten! -- "...a liquid which was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea." My opinions are not necessarily those of my provider, not necessarily mine, and probably not necessary. _______________________________________________ Dynapi-Help mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dynapi-help
