Public/private key encryption requires the production of two cryptographically linked keys:
- Public Key: Publicly available and shared with anyone. Used to encrypt data — anyone with the public key can send encrypted messages to the owner.
- Private Key: Confidential and known only to the owner. Used to decrypt data encrypted with the corresponding public key.
The public key is derived from the private key. The private key cannot be reverse-engineered from the public key.
Any message encrypted by one key can be decrypted by the other key in the linked pair — and cannot be decrypted by any other key. This is the system in action whenever you use WhatsApp: your messages are encrypted with the receiver's public key and can only be decrypted with their private key.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions: mark@curiouscryptos.com