I understand that:
1. A pair public/private key is used
2. Public key can be shared publicly, but private one is never shared
3. Something encrypted with the private key can only be decrypted with the respective public key and vice-and-versa
4. Private key can be used to confirm authenticity of the message
The thing I don’t understand is how it allows a secure communication between to parties, since anyone with the public key can decrypt at least one side of the communication (i.e. the messages encrypted with the private key).
In: Technology
The best one I heard was, imagine you and your friend are painting and you want to get to a specific green colour. You can only achieve this by mixing a specific ratio of blues and yellows. You only have blue and yellow paint. You know they have blue paint (that information is public), you also know that your friend has yellow paint (but that information is not public) so you tell your friend to mix his blue with his yellow. If the green that shows up is the same as the green that you have, you know it’s your friend and you can trust him to keep painting with you.
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