What is symmetric and asymmetric?

Answer 1

From another user: Symmetric cryptography uses the same secret (private) key to encrypt and decrypt its data whereas asymmetric uses both a public and private key. Symmetric requires that the secret key be known by the party encrypting the data and the party decrypting the data. Asymmetric allows for distribution of your public key to anyone with which they can encrypt the data they want to send securely and then it can only be decoded by the person having the private key. This eliminates the need of having to give someone the secret key (as with symmetric encryption) and risk having it compromised.

The issue with asymmetric is that it is about 1000 times slower than symmetric encryption which makes it impractical when trying to encrypt large amounts of data. Also to get the same security strength as symmetric, asymmetric must use strong a stronger key than symmetric.

Answer 2

Symmetric encryption requires a single key known only to the authorized parties. Asymmetric encryption uses a pair of keys, one key available publicly (the "public key" and one key k(the "private key" or "secret key" own only to the person the public key belongs to.

Symmetric encryption uses the same key to both encrypt and decrypt. Asymmetric encryption uses one key to encrypt and a different one to decrypt. If the owner is encrypting, they use the private key to encrypt and the recipient uses the corresponding public key to decrypt the message. If the owner is the recipient, the sender uses the public key to encrypt and the owner/recipeint uses their private key to decrypt.

Answer 3

When using symmetric algorithms, both parties share the same key for en- and decryption. To provide privacy, this key needs to be kept secret. Once someone else gets to know the key, it is not safe any more. Symmetric algorithms have the advantage of not consuming too much computing power. Ex:DES, Triple-DES

Asymmetric algorithms use pairs of keys. One is used for encryption and the other one for decryption. The decryption key is typically kept secretly, therefore called private key or secret key, while the encryption key is spread to all who might want to send encrypted messages, therefore called public key.

Answer 4

Symmetric Encryption

In symmetric encryption, also known as shared key encryption, the sender and recipient of a message share a single general password, pass phrase or key. In other words, data is encrypted and decrypted using the same key. Symmetric encryption algorithms are simpler, quicker and require fewer computer resources, such as processing power and memory, than asymmetric encryption algorithms. However, they cannot be used unless the sender and recipient have already exchanged encryption keys.

Asymmetric Encryption

In asymmetric encryption, also known a public/private encryption, two associated keys, known as public and private keys, are used to encrypt and decrypt data. The public key is distributed freely to anybody who might want to send a message, but the private key is kept secret and never distributed. Asymmetric encryption algorithms are more complex and slower .

Answer 5

Symmetric encryption is a type of encryption that requires only one key/password (say symmetric ciphers like DES, AES, Blowfish, and TwoFish) to perform both encryption and decryption operations.

Asymmetric encryption requires two keys: a public key and a private key. A public key is used to encrypt, while a private decrypts. The public key is usually safe to distribute to people you trust, while a private key you must keep for yourself. An example of a asymmetric algorithm would be like RSA.

Answer 6

Symmetric encryption requires one key available to both parties. Asymmetric encryption uses two keys, one encryption key available publicly and one decryption key available only to the recipient.

Answer 7

symmetric means that it can be divided/cut in half so that both sides are exactly the same (doesn't matter how many times: it can be more than 1). and asymmetric means not symmetric.