The first ten years of public-key cryptography
Whitfield Diffie · Proceedings of the IEEE · 1988
The development of public-key cryptography is described, and its principles are elucidated. The discussion covers exponential key exchange, the trap-door knapsack public-key cryptosystem, the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) system, and the breaking of the knapsack cryptosystem. Early responses to public-key systems and the problem of key management are examined. Applications and implementations are described. Significant development in multiplying, factoring, and finding prime numbers which have resulted from public-key research are sketched. Directions in public-key research are discussed.>