Public Key Encryption

What is the purpose of the Diffie-Hellmann public key technique? Briefly describe it.

Diffie-Hellman
  • Public Key Technique for exchanging secret keys First public key technique (1976)
  • The secret key is calculated by both parties
  • Requires some global public parameters
  • Based on difficulty in solving for x:

  • a = b x mod c
  • a, b, c known
  • key exchange (of session keys) for symmetric encryption