Re: public/private keys.... what are they?

Cryptography is a rather advanced subject, and it takes a bit of
explanation. I'd recommend the books: The Art of Deception by Kevin
Mitnik, and The Code Book by Simon Singh to actually figure out what public
and private "keys" are.

My horrid explanation:
Keys are actually serialized matricies. The value inside a row and column
of the matrix determines the vector operation that will be done. After
doing enough of these value-determined operations from a pseudo-random
matrix, it becomes impossible to generate the original matrix from the
second. The first matrix that generates the second is the private key, and
the public key is the second generated matrix.

Think of it as sending a message inside of a box, that's locked in another
box. The public key unlocks one box, and the private key unlocks the
other. The private key of the recipient is the only thing that can unlock
the outer box (but that box can be locked-only with the corresponding
public key), and the public key of the sender is the only thing that can
unlock the inner box.


On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 6:01 PM, Michael Havens <bmike1@gmail.com> wrote:

> helps some but you state:
>
> you want others to be able to check that you actually
> sent the message (by using your public key)
>
> Where do they get your public key?
> How does your public key and private key decrypt when it seems the public
> key changes.
>
> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>
> On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 5:48 PM, someone wrote:
>
>> So if I'm right calling it a 'key' is a misnomer. I am a very literal
>> person. if they call it a key it unlocks things, not creates them.
>> That is where my confusion is from. Am I correct?
>>
>> Not quite correct...
>>
>> Both the public and private keys ARE keys... they're just used a
>> little differently.
>>
>> You keep your private key secure, and use it to digitally sign a
>> message when you want others to be able to check that you actually
>> sent the message (by using your public key). Others can send an
>> encrypted message that only you can decode, by encrypting the message
>> using your public key. When you get the message, you can use your
>> private key to undo the encryption that was done using your public
>> key.
>>
>> So, in a way, the public and private keys can be thought of as two
>> pieces of a single, combined key. The software that does the signing
>> or encryption (using the keys), such as gnupg, pgp, etc., is more like
>> the lock that the keys fit.
>>
>> I hope that helps.
>> --
>> Kevin O'Connor
>>
>
>
>
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--
Todd Millecam
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