Definicja digital envelope

Security mechanism that protects a message from being viewed by anyone other than the intended recipient.

A digital envelope is created using hybrid encryption. First, the message itself is encrypted using symmetric encryption (meaning that the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt the message). This key is then encrypted using public-key encryption and sent or saved with the encrypted message. Only the intended recipient of the message can decrypt the key that was used to encrypt the original message, and therefore, decrypt the message.