Cryptographic primitives

Cryptographic primitives are the basic building blocks of a security protocol or system. In the following section, you are introduced to cryptographic algorithms that are essential for building secure protocols and systems. A security protocol is a set of steps taken to achieve the required security goals by utilizing appropriate security mechanisms. Various types of security protocols are in use, such as authentication protocols, non-repudiation protocols, and key management protocols.

The taxonomy of cryptographic primitives can be visualized as shown here:

As shown in the cryptographic primitives taxonomy diagram, cryptography is mainly divided into two categories: symmetric cryptography and asymmetric cryptography.

These primitives are discussed further in the next section.