[Tutor] looking for volunteers with testing simple python program

[Alexander]

On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 2:04 PM, Walter Prins <wprins at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Alexander
>
>
> On 23 June 2013 22:46, Alexander <rhettnaxel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I guess this is for testing, but I have a question. If somebody sends you
>> their .pub file (email or otherwise over internet), and a villainous third
>> party intercepts that .pub file, will they be able to decrypt the data sent
>> over this program?
>
>
> While I've not looked at the actual program, it appears to use standard
> public key encryption techniques.  The way public key encryption works is
> essentially that entities always have a public and a private key.  The
> public keys are always published and freely available, and are used to
> *encrypt* messages for given individuals.  Keys are essentially one-way,
> which means you cannot de-crypt a message encrypted with the same key it
> was encrypted with.  Instead, only the received with the corresponding
> private key can decrypt the encrypted message.
>
> Hence, to answer you question:  If a villainous third party intercepts the
> pub key, that doesn't help them in decrypting messages encrypted with that
> key.  At best, they can also send you encrypted messages. If they wanted to
> decrypt messages meant for you they'd have to somehow gain access to your
> private key.
>
> Regards
>
> Walter
>
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> Thanks for your response, Walter.

-- 
Alexander Etter
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