Symmetric Cryptography

Symmetric cryptography has one key. This key is used to encrypt and decrypt the data.

Symmetric encryption is suitable for storage. If a key is shared unencrypted with the ciphertext protected by it, the encryption can always be compromised by the connection bearer. Therefore, symmetric cryptography cannot be used to initialize a secure connection. Asymmetric cryptography is used for that purpose.

Typical workflow

• Alice and Bob knows the key.
• Alice has the plaintext.
• Alice encrypts the plaintext with the key.
• Alice sends the ciphertext to Bob.
• Bob decrypts the ciphertext with the key.
• Bob has the plaintext.