ECC stands for “Elliptic Curve Cryptography” and is a public key method based on the calculation of elliptic curves. It is used to create small and efficient encryption keys more quickly. ECC computes keys using operations based on elliptic curves instead of the very large prime numbers usually used. The technique can be used in conjunction with most public-key methods such as RSA [please link to this glossary term] and Diffie-Hellman [please link to this glossary term]. According to some researchers, ECC already provides comparable security with a 164-bit key, which would otherwise require a 1024-bit key when using other methods. Because ECC promises the same security with less computing power and battery consumption, the technology is increasingly being used in mobile applications. ECC was developed by the American company Certicom, a provider of security solutions for mobile e-business solutions that was acquired by RIM (now BlackBerry) in 2009.
