RSA stands for Rivest, Shamir, Adleman. These are the inventors of the RSA algorithm. The RSA algorithm is based on the public key encryption technology which is known as the public key cryptosystem for secure data transmission over the internet. This technology helps in transmitting private and delicate data across the internet because of its conventional encryption method.
The data transmission through this technology is safe due to its standard encryption method. It was developed by the three scientists in 1978. In this algorithm a code was added to the message and the data was transmitted for the security purposes. This algorithm is mainly based on the factorization method as factorization of large numbers is difficult, so breaking the messages becomes difficult for intruders to find the data.
RSA was introduced in 1977 by MIT colleagues named Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, Leonard Adleman and the name of the algorithm is derived from the surnames of these three scientists. This was introduced to enable a secure message encoding and decoding between communication parties. This concept was published in 1976 and implemented in 1977. Unlike other encryption techniques, RSA provides encryption and decryption without both parties needing a shared secret key. This is the main advantage of this algorithm. RSA also marks the messages with digital signature and allows administrators to create messages intelligible only to the authorised users and no third party can get access into it.
The properties of RSA are as follows:
It is a public key encryption method.
This algorithm is safe and secure for data transmission over the internet.
It maintains the data secrecy and integrity of data.
It has high toughness as breaking into the keys by intruders is difficult.
It makes use of the prime numbers or factoring method.
It is used to transmit the shared keys for symmetric-key cryptography.
RSA is a reliable algorithm for data encryption or decryption.
There are many advantages of RSA which are discussed below:
Implementation of RSA algorithm is simple.
RSA is safe and reliable for mechanisms.
Distribution of public key to customers is simple.
The disadvantages of RSA are listed below:
Solving the RSA algorithm is complicated as it involves complex mathematics.
RSA may fail occasionally, because it employs only asymmetric encryption but complete encryption consists of both symmetric and asymmetric encryption
Sometimes a third party is required to confirm the public keys
Powerful processing is required at the receiver end for decryption
For public data encryption like electoral voting, RSA cannot be utilised
It has slow data rate due to the involvement of large numbers
RSA works based on two keys.
Public key: This key includes two numbers, in which one number is the product of two large prime numbers. Public key is given to all the users.
Private key: This key is obtained from the two prime numbers involved in the public key and it is kept private.
The elementary blocks of the RSA algorithm are prime numbers and factorization problems. These prime numbers are used to generate the public and private keys which are used for the encryption and decryption of the data.
The RSA algorithm mainly reduces the difficulty in the encryption process. This is completely based on the problems and difficulties faced during the factorization of numbers. It is used when there is no method to factorise very large numbers. It works the best with two different keys such as public key and private key.
The facts of the RSA algorithm includes:
The strength of the encryption is directly proportional to the key size.
RSA keys can be 1024 or 2046 bits.
Larger keys increase the strength of the data encryption.
The public-key encryption method is also known as asymmetric encryption.
The main aim of this key is to solve the problem of sending the coded message without sending the code of it.
The main application areas of RSA includes:
Signature generation and verification
E-commerce applications
Key encapsulation
E-banking
Digital transactions
Generally RSA full form is Rivest, Shamir, Adlemanl. However, RSA also stands for Republic of South Africa in some cases.