A Comparative Analysis Between RSA and ECC Algorithm

Cryptography is a fundamental technique for ensuring secure and trustworthy communication between a sender and a receiver by transmitting data in encrypted form. Access to the encrypted data is restricted solely to the legitimate recipient who possesses the appropriate decryption key. It serves a vital function in protecting digital communications and ensuring network security. This paper presents a comparative study of two prominent public-key cryptographic algorithms: RSA (Rivest Shamir Adleman) and ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography). In the modern digital landscape, RSA has been the dominant method in public-key encryption systems; however, ECC has gained recognition as a powerful alternative. RSA achieves cryptographic security through the intractability of the Integer Factorization Problem, whereas ECC relies on the computational complexity of the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem. Both mechanisms are widely regarded as effective asymmetric encryption schemes and are extensively applied in data security. The objective of this study is to analyze and compare these approaches to identify strategies that can further strengthen security mechanisms and enhance the protection of sensitive information. Therefore, this RSA versus ECC comparison shows that while RSA enjoys broad adoption, ECC provides enhanced efficiency with minimal key lengths, confirming both serve as indispensable asymmetric encryption methods for constructing resilient, next-generation security architectures defending private data against progressing computational power and novel cybersecurity threats across global digital platforms.