[Cryptography] Why prefer symmetric crypto over public key crypto?

[Naif M. Otaibi]

it boils down to this: symmetric crypto is much faster than asymmetric
crypto. Asymmetric crypto should only be used to exchange symmetric keys
and signing.


On Sat, Sep 7, 2013 at 11:10 AM, Jaap-Henk Hoepman <jhh at cs.ru.nl> wrote:

>
> > I have also, in debate with Jerry, opined that public-key cryptography
> is a powerful thing that can't be replaced with symmetric-key cryptography.
> That's something that I firmly believe. At its most fundamental, public-key
> crypto allows one to encrypt something to someone whom one does not have a
> prior security relationship with. That is powerful beyond words.
>
> I share that belief. Hence my desire to fully understand Bruce's remark.
>
> Strictly speaking you need some kind of security relationship: you need to
> be sure the public key belongs to the intended recipient (and is under his
> sole control). So public key crypto allows you to bootstrap from some
> authentic piece of information (public key belongs to X) to a confidential
> communication channel (with X).
>
> Jaap-Henk
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