Which type of encryption uses a pair of keys for secure communication?

Asymmetric encryption is designed to use a pair of keys for secure communication, specifically a public key and a private key. The public key is used to encrypt data, and only the corresponding private key can decrypt that data. This system allows for secure transmission because even if the public key is shared widely, only the holder of the private key can read the encrypted messages.

This key pair scenario enables various security functions, such as digital signatures and secure key exchanges, enhancing the security of communications over untrusted networks. In contrast, symmetric encryption uses a single key for both encryption and decryption, while hashing is a one-way function that generates a fixed-size string from input data, and data masking involves obfuscating data for privacy, rather than encrypting it for secure transmission.