ECCouncil CEH v13 312-50v13 Question # 19 Topic 2 Discussion

PKI uses public-key cryptography, which is widely used on the Internet to encrypt messages or

authenticate message senders. In public-key cryptography, a CA generates public and private

keys with the same algorithm simultaneously. The private key is held only by the subject (user,

company, or system) mentioned in the certificate, while the public key is made publicly available

in a directory that all parties can access. The subject keeps the private key secret and uses it to

decrypt the text encrypted by someone else using the corresponding public key (available in a

public directory). Thus, others encrypt messages for the user with the user's public key, and the user decrypts it with his/her private key.