Encryption

Learning objectives

Explain that encryption makes intercepted data meaningless rather than preventing interception, and define the terms plaintext and ciphertext

Describe symmetric encryption as the use of a single key to encrypt and to decrypt, and explain the difficulty of getting that key to the recipient safely

Describe asymmetric encryption in terms of a public key that encrypts and a matching private key that decrypts, and explain why the public key can be given out freely

Explain how a message is sent securely using the recipient's public key, and state why only the holder of the matching private key can read it