When is the best time to use symmetric encryption vs asymmetric encryption? You

Question

When is the best time to use symmetric encryption vs asymmetric encryption? You need understand the difference before you answer that question.

Here are some hints to answer that question, which is faster? how keys are distributed?

An example is online shopping (or banking), both asymmetric and symmetric encryption are involved here, but for different purpose. How both encryption are used here?

B. Let's first discuss what mathematical theory the RSA algorithm is based on, and how keys are generated based on these theory (a few sentences is all)

Explanation / Answer

Ans:

Asymmetric encryption is an approach to encryption whereby anyone can encrypt a message with a receiver's public key. The corresponding private key is required to decrypt such messages.

Symmetric encryption is encryption based on private keys that may be shared between entities to achieve secure communications.

Keys

Asymmetric encryption requires pairs of public/private keys that match such that it is infeasible to guess the private key from the public key.Asymmetric keys have a special structure based on large prime numbers. This structure makes keys easier to guess meaning that asymmetric keys need to be much longer than a symmetric key to be secure.Symmetric keys can be any string as they have no special properties. As such, they can be generated in a random fashion that makes them more difficult to guess. A symmetric key of 256 bits may be more secure than a far larger asymmetric key.

Distribution

Symmetric keys need to be distributed to partners in order to communicate using encryption. This presents a security challenge when dealing with a large number of communication endpoints.Asymmetric encryption solves this problem with public keys that can be published securely to anyone.

Speed

Asymmetric encryption relies on algorithms that are far slower than symmetric encryption.

b)

The key generation algorithm is the most complex part of RSA. The aim of the key generation algorithm is to generate both the public and the private RSA keys. Sounds simple enough! Unfortunately, weak key generation makes RSA very vulnerable to attack. So it has to be done correctly. Here is what has to happen in order to generate secure RSA keys:

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