Java Program to Demonstrating RSA
In the world of cryptography, RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) is a popular public-key cryptosystem widely used for secure data transmission. It’s based on the principle that while multiplying large prime numbers is computationally easy, factoring their product is not — which ensures security. This post will walk you through how RSA encryption and decryption work using a simple Java program. You'll learn how the sender encrypts a message using the recipient’s public key, and how the receiver decrypts it using their private key. What Happens Under the Hood? The RSA algorithm follows these steps: Key Generation Choose two large prime numbers p and q. Compute N = p * q. Compute the totient function: phi = (p-1)(q-1). Choose an integer e such that 1 < e < phi and gcd(e, phi) = 1. Compute d, the modular inverse of e modulo phi. Encryption The sender uses the recipient’s public key (e, N) to compute ciphertext: c = m^e mod N. Decryption The recipient uses their private key (d, N) to decrypt: m = c^d mod N.