Encrypting a message using hybrid encryption with assymetric encryption

Step 1

Generate a symmetric key for an authenticated encryption algorithm

Step 2

Use the symmetric key to encrypt your message to Alice

Step 3

You encrypt the symmetric key itself by using Alice’s public key and an asymmetric encryption algorithm

Step 4

After you send both the encrypted symmetric key and the encrypted message to Alice

Step 5

Alice decrypts the symmetric key using her private key

Step 6

She then uses the symmetric key to decrypt the encrypted message

Note that steps 5 and 6 can both fail and return errors if the communications

are tampered with by a MITM attacker at step 4