What is the difference between symmetric and asymmetric cryptography?
With symmetric cryptography, the same key is used for both encryption and decryption. A sender and a recipient must already have a shared key that is known to both. Key distribution is a tricky problem and was the impetus for developing asymmetric cryptography.

With asymmetric crypto, two different keys are used for encryption and decryption. Every user in an asymmetric cryptosystem has both a public key and a private key. The private key is kept secret at all times, but the public key may be freely distributed.

Data encrypted with a public key may only be decrypted with the corresponding private key. So, sending a message to John requires encrypting that message with John’s public key. Only John can decrypt the message, as only John has his private key. Any data encrypted with a private key can only be decrypted with the corresponding public key. 
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Understanding the difference between symmetric and asymmetric cryptography is crucial for ensuring secure data transmission and communication in the digital world. Symmetric encryption uses the same key for both encryption and decryption, while asymmetric encryption involves a pair of keys - public and private. This distinction plays a significant role in key distribution and data protection strategies. 