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What is a Private key? What is a Public key?
Public/Private Key Encryption,Security tools,Online Shopping Security, Encryption,Security questions and answers
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What is a Private key? What is a Public key?
* Public Key - A public key is used for encrypting and verifying digital signatures. When someone encrypts messages with another person's public key only the complimenting private key can decrypt it. Public keys can also be used to verify messages signed with a user's private key haven't been altered. Public keys should be distributed to other email users/keyservers so messages can be encrypted and verified.
* Private Key - A private key is used for signing and decrypting. Private keys by default have passwords to unlock them for use. Private keys should never be distributed since they can be used to decrypt and sign messages. Make a backup of this key and keep it in a safe place, perhaps on a floppy disk.
* Revocation Certificate - A special signing of a public key which causes the key public to be unusable. This is useful when a user wants to inform others that their key shouldn't be used anymore. Revocation certificates should be created at key genneration time and stored for the rainy day in which they might be needed.
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