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Glossary: Cryptography and PKI

Forward secrecy

Also written: perfect forward secrecy, PFS

Recorded sessions stay unreadable even if the server's long-term private key is stolen later, because each session key came from ephemeral secrets that are gone. This is why a café's old orders stay safe.

Where the book teaches it

Related terms

Ephemeral keyDHE / ECDHERSA key transportLong-term key