Cryptographic primitives
These are the basic cornerstones of encryption, and consist of:
- One-way hash function: A mathematical function that takes a variable-length input string and converts it into a fixed-length binary sequence.
- Symmetric key cryptography: An encryption system in which the sender and receiver of a message share a single, common key that is used to encrypt and decrypt the message.
- Public-key cryptography: Also known as asymmetric cryptography, a system that uses a pair of keys—a public key and private key.