Asymmetric Encryption
Asymmetric encryption, or public-key cryptography, uses a pair of related keys: a public key that anyone can use to encrypt, and a private key, kept secret, that alone can decrypt.
What is Asymmetric Encryption?
Because the encrypting key can be shared openly, two parties can communicate securely without first agreeing a secret. The same key pairs also support digital signatures, where the private key signs and the public key verifies. RSA and elliptic curve algorithms are the most common. Asymmetric methods are slower than symmetric ones, so in practice they are usually used to exchange a symmetric session key.