Two uniquely linked cryptographic keys (mainly random numbers) form the public and private key pair.
The public key instance below was: 3048 024100C9 18FA CF8D EB2D FD37 89B9 E069 EA97 FC20 5E35 EE31 C4FB C6E4 4811 7D86 BC8F BAFA 362F 922B F01B 2F40 C744 2654 C0DD 2881 D673 CA2B 4003 E2CD CB02 0301 0001
What the public key says is the public key–public. This is what the public key indicates. It is available to all through a repository or directory that is accessible to the public. The Private Key should, on the other side, keep its owner confidential.
Due to the mathematical connections of the key pair, whatever is encrypted with a public key can be decrypted only with its respective private key and the opposite.
For instance, Bob will encrypt information by means of Alice’s Public Key if Bob wishes to send sensitive information to Alice and wants to ensure that only Alice can play this information. Only Alice has access to its appropriate Private Key and is thus the only person able to decrypt the encrypted information in its original form.
Because only Alice has private key access, only Alice can decode the information that has been encrypted. Even if someone else gets access to encrypted information, it remains confidential because Alice’s Private Key is not accessible.
Consequently, confidentiality can be achieved with public key cryptography. But it’s also essential to be able to build a digital signature in public key cryptography.