.NET Security and Cryptography

Existing Asymmetric Algorithms

Recall that the only information that needs to be shared before initiating symmetric encryption is the secret key. Since this key is typically very small (typically no greater than 256 bits) compared to the bulk data (which could be megabytes) that must be encrypted, it makes sense to use the asymmetric algorithm to encrypt only the secret symmetric key, and then use this symmetric key for encrypting the arbitrarily large bulk message data. The secret symmetric key is often referred to as a session key in this scenario.

There are several asymmetric algorithms in existence today, including RSA, DSA, ElGamal, and ECC. Currently, the most popular is RSA, which stands for Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman, the names of its ...