Public key encryption

nounverified·updated Sep 1, 2026

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A cryptographic system that uses two keys: one is a public key, which is known to everyone, and the second is a private or secret key, which is only known to the recipient of the message See also Asymmetric Key.

MWEISACA Cybersecurity Glossary

Senses

1 more sense beyond the canonical

SANS Glossary of Security Terms

The popular synonym for "asymmetric cryptography".

Classifications

per-axis with provenance

Entity Type

Unknown85%llm-generatedmulti_axis_classifier_queued.v1

?unassignedlast reviewed —

Sensitivity

unclassified

Information Class

unclassified

Variants

3 surface forms

plural: Public key encryptions
possessive: Public key encryption's
pluralpossessive: Public key encryptions'

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