Symmetric cryptography, also known as secret-key cryptography, uses a single secret key for both encryption and decryption.
The same key is shared between the sender and the recipient, and it must be kept confidential to maintain security.
Because of its efficiency, symmetric cryptography is ideal for encrypting large volumes of data quickly.
However, a significant challenge with symmetric cryptography is key distribution. Since the same key is used for both encryption and decryption, securely sharing the key between communicating parties can be difficult.
Asymmetric cryptography, also known as public-key cryptography, uses a pair of keys: a public key and a private key.
The public key is openly shared and used for encryption, while the private key is kept secret and used for decryption.
Messages encrypted with the public key can only be decrypted with the corresponding private key.
Asymmetric cryptography provides a solution to the key distribution problem faced by symmetric cryptography since the public keys can be shared openly without compromising security.
However, asymmetric encryption tends to be slower and more resource-intensive compared to symmetric encryption, making it less suitable for encrypting large amounts of data.
While both symmetric and asymmetric cryptography play essential roles in cybersecurity, they are often used in combination to achieve a balance of security and efficiency.
Symmetric encryption is commonly used for encrypting bulk data, while asymmetric encryption is used for securely exchanging encryption keys or for digital signatures to verify the authenticity of messages.