<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
      type="topic" style="task"
      id="about-diff-private-public">
  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="concepts" group="second"/>
    <link type="seealso" xref="about-ssh"/>

    <revision pkgversion="3.8" date="2013-02-26" status="incomplete"/>

    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>

    <credit type="author">
      <name>Jim Campbell</name>
      <email its:translate="no">jwcampbell@gmail.com</email>
      <years>2013</years>
    </credit>

    <desc>A public key is used to encrypt communication. A private key is
    used to decrypt it.</desc>
  </info>

  <title>Public Key vs Private Key</title>

  <p>Although <em>Public Keys</em> and <em>Private Keys</em> are both referred
  to as <em>keys</em>, it helps to think of them a bit differently. Try to
  think of a <em>Public Key</em> as being like a padlock, and a
  <em>Private Key</em> as being like a key that unlocks the padlock.</p>

  <section id="public-private-example">
    <title>An Example: Sending a Secret Message in a Box</title>

  <p>Let's use an example to see how this works. Imagine that you want your
  friend to send you a secret message in a box. You could give your friend a
  box and a padlock, but only you would have the key that unlocks the
  padlock.</p>

  <p>Your friend could put their message in the box, lock the padlock, and
  then send you the locked box in the mail. When you receive it, you would use
  your key to unlock the box.</p>

  <p>This is similar to how a <em>Public Key</em> and a <em>Private Key</em>
  work. Like the padlock, you can freely give out your <em>Public Key</em>.
  This will make it easy for anyone to securely encrypt, or lock, a message
  that they want to send to you.</p>
  
  <p>On the other hand, a <em>Private Key</em> is like the key that allows you
  to decrypt, or unlock, the padlock. Because the <em>Private Key</em> is used
  to decrypt secure messages, you will want to keep your <em>Private Key</em>
  safe.</p>
  
  </section>

</page>
