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61 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
61 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
# Cryptographic concepts/terms
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```
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Lars suggests that we should have a chapter where we introduce cryptographic terms that we use, and give short definitions (without getting into how specific algorithms work)
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This would be a good place to introduce visualizations for cryptographic primitives
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```
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## Public-key cryptography
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography
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### Asymmetric cryptographic key pairs
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In many places, we'll deal with asymmetric cryptographic key pairs:
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```{figure} diag/cryptographic_keys.png
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A cryptographic keypair
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```
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A cryptographic key pair consists of a public and a private part. In this document, we'll show the public part of a cryptographic key in green, and the private part in red.
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We'll usually visualize cryptographic keypairs in this more compact form:
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```{figure} diag/keypair.png
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A cryptographic keypair, more compact representation
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```
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Note that in many contexts, only the public part is present (more on that later):
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```{figure} diag/keypair_pub.png
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Only the public part of a cryptographic keypair
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```
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### Public-key cryptography in OpenPGP
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OpenPGP makes heavy use of public-key cryptography. However, for historical reasons, OpenPGP uses the terms "public/secret" instead of "public/private."
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So when reading the RFC, or other documentation, you will encounter the term "secret key," instead of the more common "private key."
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### Symmetric encryption
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetric-key_algorithm
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[TODO: visualization?]
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#### Symmetric cryptography in OpenPGP
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Symmetric encryption is a core concept in OpenPGP. It usually comes up involving the term "session key."
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"Session keys" in OpenPGP are symmetric cryptographic keys.
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## Cryptographic signatures
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