RSA encryption
<cryptography, algorithm> A public-key cryptosystem for both encryption
and authentication, invented in 1977 by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard
Adleman. Its name comes from their initials.
The RSA algorithm works as follows. Take two large prime numbers, p and q, and
find their product n = pq; n is called the modulus. Choose a number, e, less
than n and relatively prime to (p-1)(q-1), and find its reciprocal mod
(p-1)(q-1), and call this d. Thus ed = 1 mod (p-1)(q-1); e and d are called the
public and private exponents, respectively. The public key is the pair (n, e);
the private key is d. The factors p and q must be kept secret, or destroyed. It
is difficult (presumably) to obtain the private key d from the public key (n,
e). If one could factor n into p and q, however, then one could obtain the
private key d. Thus the entire security of RSA depends on the difficulty of
factoring; an easy method for factoring products of large prime numbers would
break RSA.
RSA FAQ.
(2004-07-14)
Nearby terms:
RS6K « RSA « RSA Data Security, Inc. « RSA
encryption
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