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Originally Posted by Androme2
The types of encryption commonly commonly used in relation to keys are single key (one key used to encrypt and decrypt) and double key encryption methods where-by one key is used to encrypt the message (public key) and another is used to decrypt it (private key). The public key is made available to everyone and the private key is kept 'private'. They aren't the same on the basis of extremely large prime numbers. Two prime numbers multiplied by each other = significantly larger number.
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digital signiatures work the other way round - the encryption key is kept private and the decryption key is made public. so when you decrypt the message and see that it is what you expect it to be, then you can be sure that the person that encrypted it and sent it to you, is the person holding the private encryption key.