The Key Exchange Problem
The key exchange problem is how to exchange whatever keys or other information are needed so that no one else can obtain a copy. Traditionally, this required trusted couriers, diplomatic bags, or some other secure channel. With the advent of public key / private key cipher algorithms, the encrypting key (aka public key) could be made public, since (at least for high quality algorithms) no one without the decrypting key (aka, the private key) could decrypt the message.
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