Public Key Cryptography and Information Security: A Literature Review (original) (raw)

Information is a valuable asset and must be kept confidential, have integrity and be available in order to be worth its name and be credible. Therefore in a bid to ensure this, strong mathematical algorithms, that involve the use of a pair of keys which are different from one another (public and private) like the ones that are used by RSA and CISCO to mention but a few, are employed and used in the processes of data encryption and decryption. This system of using two keys, one public and the other private that are different but mathematically related, to secure information has given rise to the concept of Public Key Cryptography; a concept that attempts to use key management in ensuring the security of information and data against hacker's attacks while both in storage and moving over the internet from one place to another. This paper thus, sets out to analyze the working of the public key cryptography and find ways in which it can be improved to give better information security.