Background Module

This module covers some of the basic theory of cryptography and how digital certificates can be used to ensure secure communication on the Internet. If you feel you know this stuff already, take the quiz at the end and see if you can skip this module.

  • Describe symmetric and asymmetric encryption.
  • Describe uses of public and private keys.
  • Describe how to achieve authentication and message integrity.
  • Describe uses of digital certificates.

Bob Lord, Manager of Core Cryptography, describes the difficulty of breaking 128-bit keys.

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