Public Key Encryption

Public Key Encryption is a type of Encryption that uses a pair of keys: a public key, which can be shared with anyone and is used to encrypt, and a private key, which is kept secret and used to decrypt.

Anyone can send you a message encrypted with your public key, but only you can read it. This solves the key distribution problem of Symmetric Cryptography, where both sides need to share the same secret key.

RSA is a well-known example. See Asymmetric Cryptography.