Discuss the weaknesses of symmetric encryption

Asked by Kyle on June 26, 2025

1 Answers

Key Distribution: Securely distributing the shared secret key poses a significant challenge. If an adversary obtains this key during its exchange, all subsequent communications encrypted with it are compromised. This is especially problematic in large networks, where secure out-of-band key exchange for numerous parties is impractical.
Scalability: Symmetric encryption schemes face scalability issues. In a network with "n" users, "n*(n-1)/2" unique keys are required for every pair of users to communicate securely. For instance, ten users would need 45 distinct keys. Managing and maintaining such a large number of keys becomes complex and resource-intensive.
Lack of Non-Repudiation: Symmetric encryption lacks inherent non-repudiation. Since both the sender and receiver use the same secret key, there is no method to definitively prove which party originated a message. In case of a dispute, both parties possess the key, making it impossible to attribute the message to one over the other.

Fable - June 26, 2025

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