Section 2.3 Keys
Typically a series of random bytes can be used as a key to either encrypt or decrypt data. A key is used by a cryptographic algorithm to change plaintext to ciphertext. Keys may also be asymmetric in that they can only be used to perform one of the operations (either encryption or decryption).
It is important to have an idea of what factors make a strong cryptographic key. Length plays an important role. The longer the key, the hard it is to crack the encryption. Likewise the randomness of the data in the key also makes it stronger. If the byte sequence is somehow predictable, the length is irrelevant. Finally we have the concept of a cryptoperiod or lifetime of a key. If we are working with a system that frequently changes keys an attacker may not have enough time to crack it.
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