ECDSA

A digital signature algorithm based on elliptic curve cryptography.

ECDSA produces digital signatures using elliptic curve cryptography, providing authentication, integrity, and nonrepudiation with smaller keys and signatures than RSA. It is common in TLS certificates, code signing, and cryptocurrency because of its efficiency on constrained or high volume systems. A notable practical pitfall is that the algorithm requires a unique, unpredictable random value for each signature, and reusing or leaking that value can expose the private key. The exam distinction is that ECDSA signs whereas ECDHE performs key exchange, even though both rely on elliptic curves.