Editing Alice and Bob (section)

== Overview ==
[[File:Public key shared secret.svg|thumb|An example of an "Alice and Bob" used in cryptography]]

Alice and Bob are the names of fictional characters used for convenience and to aid comprehension. For example, "How can Bob send a private message M to Alice in a public-key cryptosystem?"<ref name=":0" /> is believed to be easier to describe and understand than if the hypothetical people were simply named ''A'' and ''B'' as in "How can B send a private message M to A in a [[public-key cryptosystem]]?"

The names are conventional, and where relevant may use an [[Alliteration|alliterative]] [[mnemonic]] such as "Mallory" for "malicious" to associate the name with the typical role of that person.