RSA Encryption Algorithm: Implementation and Technical Overview

In cryptography, RSA is an asymmetric encryption algorithm that utilizes a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption. The RSA algorithm is widely employed in information security for encrypting digital signatures and protecting sensitive data confidentiality and integrity. From an implementation perspective, RSA involves key generation through large prime number selection, modulus calculation using Euler's totient function, and exponent derivation for encryption/decryption operations.

The algorithm's security relies on the mathematical principle of large integer factorization, where the difficulty of factoring the product of two large primes ensures cryptographic strength. Core functions include modular exponentiation for encryption (c = m^e mod n) and decryption (m = c^d mod n), with optimized implementations often using the Chinese Remainder Theorem for faster private key operations.

Beyond RSA, alternative encryption algorithms like AES (symmetric key), DES (block cipher), and Blowfish (fast variable-key-length cipher) offer distinct advantages for specific applications, including performance optimization, hardware implementation efficiency, and specialized use cases in modern cryptographic systems.

Practical implementations typically involve padding schemes like OAEP for enhanced security, with programming libraries providing key generation functions (generate_keys()), encryption/decryption methods (encrypt(message, public_key), decrypt(ciphertext, private_key)), and built-in handling of large number arithmetic operations.