Public Key Encryption
Public key encryption uses a mathematically linked key pair — a public key anyone may use to encrypt or verify, and a private key held only by its owner — to secure transmission and produce digital signatures.
What is Public Key Encryption?
Definition
Public Key Encryption uses a mathematically linked pair of keys: a public key that anyone may hold and use to encrypt or to verify a signature, and a private key kept by its owner alone, which decrypts and signs. Because no shared secret has to be exchanged beforehand, it solves the problem symmetric cryptography cannot — establishing confidentiality between parties that have never communicated. In cybersecurity it is the foundation under TLS, digital signatures, certificates and code signing, and its practical security rests less on the mathematics than on whether the private key is genuinely private.
Role in cybersecurity
Public Key Encryption plays an important role in building organizational resilience against cyber threats. Implementing appropriate mechanisms in this area is required by regulations such as NIS2, DORA and ISO 27001.