Mathematical basis of RSA algorithm

The article is accurate.

However, RSA is not used for wireless encryption. RSA is used at a separate level or layer. There are multiple layers of security.

Connect to wlan and you are entering one layer. Open a browser and connect to your bank and you enter another layer (https).

Take WEP or WPA. At this layer, the encryption is not using RSA at all. The matching keys exist at both ends, on your computer and on the access point, both stored as a string of characters which are matched to each other when connecting to the access point. The transmission of the keys can use different protocols, e.g. AES, TKIP or others. These protocols "secure" the transmission by using other mathematical formulas which "mix up the key's characters" when being sent, i.e. 12345 != 13254. In WEP, one of the characters is sent in plain text within the beginning of every packet that gets transmitted. Thus, cracking WEP becomes relatively easy: gather enough packets > extract a key's character > assemble varying combinations of key characters until get a match. Takes a few minutes using software with that purpose.

RSA is used in Secure Socket Layers, SSL (https). You have a security certificate from the secure site installed on your computer, the site has a "master" certificate as described in that article.

 

Math is pretty much behind everything done on the Internet, including the Internet itself, and on computers too. All communication is factored down to 0s and 1s. All electronic particles flow at (0s and 1s)'s regulations & directions; that includes keystrokes, mouse movements, RAM use, CPU lanes, TCP/IP, USB; all of it. In actuality, text and multimedia content on screens are an illusion generated using math. Those bouncing boobies in videos are not real in more ways than one!