Asymmetric encryption (RSA, ECC) in Cybersecurity - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Understanding Asymmetric Encryption with RSA and ECC

📖 Scenario: You are learning about how secure communication works on the internet. Two common methods to keep messages safe are RSA and ECC, which use pairs of keys to encrypt and decrypt information.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple conceptual model of asymmetric encryption by creating key pairs, setting up a message, encrypting it with a public key, and decrypting it with a private key.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create variables to represent public and private keys for RSA and ECC

Set up a message variable to be encrypted

Show the encryption process using the public key

Show the decryption process using the private key

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Asymmetric encryption is used every day to secure emails, websites, and online banking by ensuring only the intended recipient can read the message.

💼 Career

Understanding asymmetric encryption is essential for cybersecurity professionals, software developers, and anyone working with secure communications.

1

Set up RSA and ECC key pairs

Create two dictionaries called rsa_keys and ecc_keys. Each dictionary should have two entries: 'public' and 'private'. Set rsa_keys['public'] to 'RSA Public Key' and rsa_keys['private'] to 'RSA Private Key'. Set ecc_keys['public'] to 'ECC Public Key' and ecc_keys['private'] to 'ECC Private Key'.

Cybersecurity

# Create rsa_keys and ecc_keys dictionaries with public and private keys
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Think of rsa_keys and ecc_keys as boxes holding two keys each: one public and one private.

2

Create a message to encrypt

Create a variable called message and set it to the string 'Hello, secure world!'.

Cybersecurity

rsa_keys = {'public': 'RSA Public Key', 'private': 'RSA Private Key'}
ecc_keys = {'public': 'ECC Public Key', 'private': 'ECC Private Key'}
# Create a message string to encrypt
# Your code here

Need a hint?

This message represents the information you want to keep safe.

3

Simulate encryption using the public key

Create a variable called encrypted_message_rsa and set it to a string combining rsa_keys['public'] and message separated by a colon and a space. Similarly, create encrypted_message_ecc combining ecc_keys['public'] and message with the same format.

Cybersecurity

rsa_keys = {'public': 'RSA Public Key', 'private': 'RSA Private Key'}
ecc_keys = {'public': 'ECC Public Key', 'private': 'ECC Private Key'}
message = 'Hello, secure world!'
# Create encrypted_message_rsa and encrypted_message_ecc by combining keys and message
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Imagine the public key locks the message. We show this by joining the key and message with a colon.

4

Simulate decryption using the private key

Create two variables: decrypted_message_rsa and decrypted_message_ecc. Set both to the string 'Hello, secure world!' to represent the original message after decryption with the private keys.

Cybersecurity

rsa_keys = {'public': 'RSA Public Key', 'private': 'RSA Private Key'}
ecc_keys = {'public': 'ECC Public Key', 'private': 'ECC Private Key'}
message = 'Hello, secure world!'
encrypted_message_rsa = f"{rsa_keys['public']}: {message}"
encrypted_message_ecc = f"{ecc_keys['public']}: {message}"
# Set decrypted_message_rsa and decrypted_message_ecc to the original message
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Decryption returns the original message using the private key.