1.. hazmat:: 2 3Asymmetric algorithms 4===================== 5 6Asymmetric cryptography is a branch of cryptography where a secret key can be 7divided into two parts, a :term:`public key` and a :term:`private key`. The 8public key can be given to anyone, trusted or not, while the private key must 9be kept secret (just like the key in symmetric cryptography). 10 11Asymmetric cryptography has two primary use cases: authentication and 12confidentiality. Using asymmetric cryptography, messages can be signed with a 13private key, and then anyone with the public key is able to verify that the 14message was created by someone possessing the corresponding private key. This 15can be combined with a `proof of identity`_ system to know what entity (person 16or group) actually owns that private key, providing authentication. 17 18Encryption with asymmetric cryptography works in a slightly different way from 19symmetric encryption. Someone with the public key is able to encrypt a message, 20providing confidentiality, and then only the person in possession of the 21private key is able to decrypt it. 22 23.. toctree:: 24 :maxdepth: 1 25 26 x25519 27 x448 28 ec 29 rsa 30 dh 31 dsa 32 serialization 33 utils 34 35 36.. _`proof of identity`: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_infrastructure 37