Follow these steps to explore PKCS#1 v1.5 RSA encryption and decryption using the interactive simulation:

Phase 1: Message Input and Initial Setup

STEP 1: Enter your message in the plaintext field

• Type your desired message in the "Plaintext to encrypt" field
• You can use the default "Hello World!" or enter your own text
• Consider that longer messages may require larger key sizes for proper encryption

STEP 2: Observe the simulation interface organization

• Step 1 Section (Yellow): Message encryption/decryption operations
• Step 2 Section (Green): RSA key management and parameters
• Advanced Section (Red): Detailed key parameters for cryptographic analysis

Phase 2: RSA Key Selection and Management

STEP 3: Choose your RSA key configuration from the preset options:

• Green Button - 1024-bit Key (e=65537): Standard secure key with common public exponent
• Orange Button - 1024-bit Key (e=3): Fast encryption key with small public exponent
• Red Button - 512-bit Key (e=65537): Smaller key for faster operations
• Purple Button - 512-bit Key (e=3): Fastest encryption with minimal security trade-off

STEP 4: OR generate a custom RSA key:

• Set your desired key size in the "Key size (bits)" field (512, 1024, or larger)
• Click the "🔑 Generate New Key" button (cyan/blue)
• Wait for the generation process to complete (larger keys require more time)

STEP 5: Examine the generated key parameters:

• Modulus (n): The public modulus used in both encryption and decryption
• Public Exponent (e): The public key component (typically 65537 or 3)
• Private Exponent (d): The secret key component for decryption

Phase 3: Encryption and Decryption Operations

STEP 6: Perform PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption:

• Click the "🔒 Encrypt" button (green) in the message operations section
• Observe the encryption process in the status field
• The ciphertext appears in hexadecimal format in the "Ciphertext (hex)" field
• Note the encryption time and any status messages

STEP 7: Perform decryption to verify the process:

• Click the "🔓 Decrypt" button (orange) to reverse the encryption
• The decrypted message appears in the "Decrypted text" field
• Verify that the decrypted text exactly matches your original plaintext
• Observe the decryption time in the status field

Phase 4: Advanced Cryptographic Analysis

STEP 8: Explore advanced RSA parameters (optional):

• Click to expand the "Advanced Key Parameters" section (red background)
• Examine the mathematical components:
  • Prime Factors (P, Q): The secret primes that generate the modulus
  • D mod (P-1): Chinese Remainder Theorem optimization parameter
  • D mod (Q-1): CRT parameter for faster decryption
  • 1/Q mod P: CRT coefficient for reconstruction

STEP 9: Conduct comparative experiments:

• Key Size Comparison: Generate keys of different sizes and compare performance
• Exponent Analysis: Compare encryption speed between e=3 and e=65537
• Security vs Performance: Observe the trade-off between key size and operation speed
• Padding Verification: Notice how the same plaintext produces different ciphertexts due to random padding