RSA encryption :: Mathematics Math

RSA encryption All over the world there are millions of people use credit card and on-line shopping. Every individual gets different numbers for credit card and for transcription of on-line-shopping. Where did all this number come from? Are the numbers in order? No, those numbers are made by RSA algorithm. RSA encryption is the foundation of public key cryptography security products. For example, credit card companies use the RSA algorithm for customers’ individual online WebPages. The credit card companies publish a big number on WebPages, which is made by big prime numbers using the RSA algorithm. Since neither computers nor people can factor such big numbers, the RSA encryption system has secured many customers’ information. The RSA encryption is related to the cipher of Julius Caesar (1300s) that shifts three letters to encode messages. The cipher of Julius Caesar was used in war to send messages securely. Here is how Caesar encodes his message using the cipher. First Caesar assigned A through Z to 0 through 25. For instance A is zero. Second, add three to each numbers. Then, Caesar changed number into Alphabet again. The problem of the cipher of Julius Caesar is that it can be easily decoded by anyone because shifting three letters is not that hard to decode. However, the RSA system is much safer than the Caesar system because the RSA system uses huge numbers made by two big prime numbers using a special formula. RSA is named after three researchers( Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adelman) from MIT. They searched for implementation to complete PKC system and found the RSA system among 40 candidates of formulas. PKC is the enabling technology for all Internet security and the increasing use of digital signatures, which are replacing traditional signatures in many contexts. However, RSA is better than PKC because RSA doesn’t need digital signature. As a result, the RSA algorithm turned out to be a perfect fit for the implementation of a practical public security system. In 1977, Martin Gardner first introduced the RSA system. After 5 years, company RSA used secure electronic security products. Nowadays many credit companies of all over the world use the RSA system or a similar system based on the RSA system. Why is the RSA system considered to be secure? As I mentioned before, neither computers nor people can factor really big numbers. Although the computer is suitable for calculating huge numbers, computers can’t factor numbers made by the RSA algorithm.