Extending MFC Applications with the .NET Framework

Using Digital Signatures

In addition to the already-stated benefits of public key encryption, another huge benefit is derived: digital signatures. Digital signatures ensure the e-commerce requirements of authentication, integrity, and nonrepudiation. One method of creating digital signatures is for the sender to encrypt the message using a private key. Anyone can then verify the authenticity of the sender by decrypting the message using the sender's known public key. In fact, the RSA algorithm is used to make digital signatures in this manner, though instead of signing the entire message, a hash of the message is created and this hash is then encrypted. The DSA algorithm does not encrypt data, but it can be used to create digital signatures. ...