How can i check the authenticity of a private key

[Joseph Ashwood]

----- Original Message -----
From: "surinder pal singh makkar" <vicky_computers_cryptography at yahoo.com>
To: <cypherpunks at einstein.ssz.com>
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 5:30 AM
Subject: CDR: How can i check the authenticity of a private key


> Hi List,
>
> I am a newbie in cryptography. What I have learnt till
> now is that in assymeric cryptography scenario we have
> a private key and we generate the public key
> corresponding to it and then we send it to the central
> agency.
> Suppose after sometime I have a private key and the
> public key. Is there some software tool which can tell
> me whether the public key is the same corresponding to
> the private key I am having. Also is there some tool
> which can tell me whether the keys have been curropted
> or not

Sure, and it's fairly easy too. Choose some random data, encrypt with the
public key, decrypt with the private key, if the data isn't corrupted, then
they match. Of course this isn't a perfect way of telling, but with any
given potential key pair it's steep odds. If you want to really be sure,
pass it through a few times.
                    Joe