symmetric key cryptography

Symmetric key cryptography is a method of securing information by using a single secret key for both locking (encrypting) and unlocking (decrypting) data. Imagine it like a password that both sender and receiver share; they use this password to encode and decode messages. The main challenge is securely sharing the key beforehand, since anyone with the key can access the information. This approach is efficient for encrypting large data and widely used in various security applications, but it requires careful management of the key to keep communications private.