Comment on [deleted]
scarabic@lemmy.world 2 weeks agoAnd what is a private key? How exactly do you “keep” it across multiple devices? It’s all still black magic to me.
Comment on [deleted]
scarabic@lemmy.world 2 weeks agoAnd what is a private key? How exactly do you “keep” it across multiple devices? It’s all still black magic to me.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Basically, in public key cryptography, you can generate two sets of numbers that are mathematically related, one called the private key and one called the public key, collectively called a key pair.
Through a lot of fancy math, you, with your private key, can take a number I give you and give me back another number called a signature. I, with your public key, can do even more fancy math to prove that you do, in fact, have the corresponding private key to the public key I have based on this signature.
If you give me the wrong signature, I can’t trust that you have the private key, and you don’t get authenticated, but if you give me the right signature, I can trust that you’re you, and you get authenticated.