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Quiz Entry - updated: 2026.07.10

True or false: "With all asymmetric algorithms, you can both sign and encrypt."

False — there are pure signature algorithms (DSA, Schnorr, Nyberg-Rueppel) that cannot encrypt. Only RSA and ElGamal support both signing and encryption.

Why some algorithms can't encrypt:

  • DSA was designed by NIST specifically as a signature-only scheme — partly to avoid RSA's patents, partly as a design choice
  • Schnorr and Nyberg-Rueppel are also signature-only by design
  • Their mathematical structure computes a verification value, not a ciphertext that can be reversed

The related misconception: "For all asymmetric algorithms, signing is the same operation as encrypting" — also FALSE. This is only true for RSA, where $s = m^d$ (sign) looks like the reverse of $c = m^e$ (encrypt). For all other algorithms, signing and encrypting use fundamentally different computations.

Another subtle distinction: "Signing with the private key" and "encrypting with the private key" are NOT equivalent. Signing produces a value anyone can verify. "Encrypting" with a private key is a misleading description — it doesn't provide confidentiality since anyone with the public key can "decrypt" it.

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From Quiz: KRYPTOG / Digital Signatures and Advanced Public Key Techniques | Updated: Jul 10, 2026