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Security Introduction to Data Security Solutions Sensitive Data

Posted by William King
William King
358 Points

1:58 - craig encrypted this lunch.txt.gpg file "with my private key" should this be kenneth's public key?

1:58 - craig encrypted this lunch.txt.gpg file "with my private key" should this be kenneth's public key?

Biljana Sotirovska
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Biljana Sotirovska
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 25,952 Points
Biljana Sotirovska
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Biljana Sotirovska
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 25,952 Points

No wait, William's concern is correct. I clicked on the questions tab specifically for that. The video for encryption is clear on that, on 2:34 Kenneth says:

To send me an encrypted message, you encrypt it using my public key and I would decrypt it with my private one.

Also in the quiz, there is this true-false question: In private key encryption, Alice would use Bob's public key to encrypt a message for him where the correct answer is true. Replace Alice with Craig and Bob with Kenneth and you realize that either there is something wrong on 1:58 or something is missing from the explanations.

Can someone from Treehouse team please clarify? Thanks.

1 Answer

Rex Beatie
Rex Beatie
2,010 Points
Rex Beatie
Rex Beatie
2,010 Points

No, each person should have their own private key ( or share a private key, depending on the algorithm.) In an asymmetric pattern each person would have their own private key, and there would be a common shared public key. Diffie-Helman is a common and good pattern that shows how to share a secret value and keep it a secret using a public value (public key).