public key

A cryptographic key, used with a public key cryptographic algorithm, that is uniquely associated with an entity and may be made public. In an asymmetric (public) cryptosystem, the public key is associated with a private key. The public key may be known by anyone and, depending on the algorithm, may be used, for example, to: 1) Verify a digital signature that is signed by the corresponding private key, 2) Encrypt keys that can be decrypted by the corresponding private key, or 3) Compute a shared secret during a key-agreement transaction.