-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: RIPEMD160 Joseph Oreste Bruni wrote: > By definition of symmetric encryption, you must use the same key to > decrypt that was used to encrypt. I'm not sure what you're really > asking. > > When you say "public key is used to generate symmetric key" you > lost me. Symmetric keys are typically just random numbers pulled > from /dev/random or similar. The public key generates a key that symmetrically encrypts the message, which can be deciphered by its corresponding private key. What stops Bob from using Alice's public key to generate a symmetric key that can decrypt her messages?
- -- Windows NT 5.1.2600.2180 | Thunderbird 2.0.0.4 | Enigmail 0.95.1 | GPG 1.4.7 Key ID: 0x60A78FCB - available on major keyservers and upon request Fingerprint: 4A84 CAE2 A0D3 2AEB 71F6 07FD F88E 0340 60A7 8FCB -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iQEVAwUBRnlwc/iOA0Bgp4/LAQNX0gf/VNcoK0gWCaX77661Jkdai5WPbiZQKhtj m0kvq6f/EObSfd2IlgN3QEddP3KzDODlxcY53sHMNaYfhEy8HmxAHADOSjpKxx7h CtA2D26v+ollTwAq9i1D1pEJ1ibXf65VnEi2qSdNEkOkxjk60AJv2m017O7W3ZPh jVVI3DxI3BoBJRL1ZXxfGwFN7dcXHgDL/o79yi5dqwEI2vIUVpN8F5lsgO1SBFZ+ ZupjjaXaCqep6TLyruDxr3lXJIK7E/MJWFVNphZ28hjorfZU7LShcLl12N7S02oP ysQsmNdtqUosxiXFCOU7R3N5kjgtJGtx+mz2cNoROS3dfis4B6dTwA== =/Kax -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users