RSA is asymmetrical: you encrypt with the public key, and the receiving party decrypts with its private key. You use it normally to exchange a sessiosn key for a symmetrical block encryptor.
Another application is signing a hash with a private key, then the receiving party can validate using your public key that the content of a message has not been tampered with. Choose the length long enough though (> 1024, preferable 2048). Does this help? --Maarten > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Matt MacDonald > Sent: donderdag 13 november 2003 15:23 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [REBOL] RSA Encryption > > > Can someone please explain to me, in as few mathematical equations as > possible, why RSA public/private encryption works? The way it looks to me > in the documentation that came with REBOL, you have to send the recieving > party the public key. If this is the case, what stops some hacker from > intercepting that public key and using it to decrypt the data? How is > this > any different from using a syncronous encryption method and then just > sending the encryption key along with the data? It just doesn't make > sense > to me. > > Matt > > _________________________________________________________________ > Compare high-speed Internet plans, starting at $26.95. > https://broadband.msn.com (Prices may vary by service area.) > > -- > To unsubscribe from this list, just send an email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe as the subject. -- To unsubscribe from this list, just send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe as the subject.
