Private Key

When you were a kid, you probably used simple codes to send messages. 1=A, 2=B, and so on. (10/5/14/14/25 19/13/5/12/12/19 12/9/11/5 1 2/21/20/20)

Codes get more complicated when you grow up. A private key comes into play with some of these grown-up, more complicated situations. It makes up part of an encryption process, keeping communications and data safe.

A private key is paired with a public key. Both represent long, random numbers. Everyone in a group can know the public key. But the private key is unique to the individual. The combination of the private and public keys provides a much safer access system than, say, using your birth date as a password, or going with “1...2...3...4...5.”