Understanding Public Key Cryptography

The public-private key pairs used in public key cryptography play an important role in the use of digital certificates. A public-private key pair encrypts and decrypts data. Data encrypted with a public key, which the owner makes available to the public, can be decrypted with the corresponding private key only, which the owner keeps secret and protected. For example, if Alice wants to send Bob an encrypted message, Alice can encrypt it with Bob's public key and send it to him. Bob then decrypts the message with his private key.

The reverse process is also useful: encrypting data with a private key and decrypting it with the corresponding public key. This process is known as creating a digital signature. For example, if Alice wants to present her identity as the sender of a message, she can encrypt the message with her private key and send the message to Bob. Bob then decrypts the message with Alice's public key, thus verifying that Alice is indeed the sender.

Related Topics

• Junos OS Feature Support Reference for SRX Series and J Series Devices
• Understanding Certificates
• Example: Generating a Public-Private Key Pair (CLI)
• Digital Certificates Configuration Overview