<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents . To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider modifying the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points in such a way that it can stand on its own as a concise version of the article . (discuss). (December 2015) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents . To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider modifying the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points in such a way that it can stand on its own as a concise version of the article . (discuss). (December 2015) </Td> </Tr> <P> Public - key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is any cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys: public keys which may be disseminated widely, and private keys which are known only to the owner . This accomplishes two functions: authentication, where the public key verifies that a holder of the paired private key sent the message, and encryption, where only the paired private key holder can decrypt the message encrypted with the public key . </P> <P> In a public key encryption system, any person can encrypt a message using the receiver's public key . That encrypted message can only be decrypted with the receiver's private key . To be practical, the generation of a public and private key - pair must be computationally economical . The strength of a public key cryptography system relies on the computational effort (work factor in cryptography) required to find the private key from its paired public key . Effective security only requires keeping the private key private; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security . </P>

Who keeps private key in asymmetric key cryptography