Encrypting large files using a public key

Question

I need to encrypt a 100KB file using a public key. I\'ve been reading some posts claiming that it is not practical to directly encrypt large files using a public key, and th

Answer 1

Aside from the speed-boost of symmetric key encryption, there's another possible benefit: By first encrypting the message with a random securely-generated symmetric key, you can then encrypt the symmetric key for multiple recipients, once in each recipient's own public asymmetric key, without having to re-encrypt the entire message.