Private Keys and Public Keys |
Private key and public key pairs assure secure communications through encryption encoding and decoding.
Encryption programs encode and decode data by processing the data with a key made up of random numbers. SSL uses private key and public key pairs to encode and decode communications. A private key is always private and never shared with anyone. The public key is available to anyone via online libraries of keys and through authentication certificates.
Content encoded with a private key can only be decoded with its corresponding public key. The opposite is also true. Only the private key can decode a message encoded with its matching public key.
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Private Keys and Public Keys |