Thus far, you have seen examples of the two most common types of cryptographic algorithms in use today: public-key algorithms and symmetric-key algorithms. They were created for somewhat different purposes (symmetric-key algorithms would not be suitable for verifying someone’s identity, for instance, in the way that public-key algorithms are), but in many situations either one would be suitable. With that in mind, then, we can ask what advantages each has over the other in terms of performance and ease of use.

Thus far, you have seen examples of the two most common types of cryptographic algorithms in use today: public-key algorithms and symmetric-key algorithms. They were created for somewhat different purposes (symmetric-key algorithms would not be suitable for verifying someone’s identity, for instance, in the way that public-key algorithms are), but in many situations either one would be suitable. With that in mind, then, we can ask what advantages each has over the other in terms of performance and ease of use.