CertiGuide to Security+  9  Chapter 4:  Basics of Cryptography (Domain 4.0; 15%)       9  4.1  Algorithms            9  4.1.3  Asymmetric

4.1.3  Asymmetric 1 How is Asymmetric Cryptography Used?

Diffie and Hellman originally discussed asymmetric cryptography, in their 1976 paper about a new, secure way to exchange secret keys between users.³⁹² The Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol solved the problem of securely communicating symmetric algorithm key information to those users who need it by using a new type of cryptography.

Perhaps the most widely used asymmetric commercial algorithm at this time is RSA (developed by Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman in 1977), by RSA Data Security, Inc. Others include DSA (used by the government)

Popular examples of Public/Private key cryptography include PGP (Pretty Good Privacy, with versions using RSA and Diffie-Hellman keys), S/MIME, SSH (the secure alternative to telnet) and SSL (used for encryption of data between a web browser and server).³⁹³

4.1.3  Asymmetric 1 How is Asymmetric Cryptography Used?