Technical Site of Encryption

by Richard Olney

Encryption

SSL How it works:

SSL uses public-key encryption and digital certificates to set up the interaction and verify that the parties are who they say they are. Then it uses special session keys to encrypt the data being transmitted. Public-key cryptography uses a pair of asymmetric keys, public and private, for encryption and decryption. The digital certificates (issued by a certificate authority) are used to verify that the key pairs belong to a particular entity. Session keys perform the cryptographic work for the data exchange.

SET How it works:

When a customer wishes to make a purchase, the order information is encrypted via the customer's private encryption key and sent to the merchant, while the credit card information is also encrypted and sent to the card issuer, all accompanied by a unique digital signature. The merchant and card issuer decrypts the information using the customer's public key, allowing them to verify its authenticity and complete the transaction.