Server App Security Ideas/Problem

[dxoigmn]

Well the algorithm is fairly simple, but why the algorithm is so secure is beyond me.  Knowing how relative primes, phi's, euler algorithms work is not a problem, but why they were used is completely different.

Notice I said 'what RSA does', not how or why it works.

Perhaps I should restate my earlier post, let's replace 'complicated' with monotonous...

It's secure because it's hard to factor large integers, atleast when the integer is a product of 2 very-large primes. Your second sentence makes no sense, what is the difference?

[Lenny]

That's a general statement for any encryption or authentication scheme that utilizes prime numbers.  That's simply the reason why prime numbers are used, not how or why RSA goes through the number theorems for its key generation.

Knowing what RSA DOES is simply knowing what the algorithm goes through to encrypt and generate keys.  Knowing HOW or WHY it's effective is knowing why it uses such algorithms (Fermat numbers, congruent modulo, etc)...

To give a more concrete example, a majority of us know what gravity does, but why does it occur?