In the hybrid workflow, the recipient decrypts the encrypted document with the private key before recovering the symmetric key.

### Why this is right The statement reverses the required order. The recipient first uses the private key to decrypt the encrypted symmetric key, then uses that recovered key to decrypt the document. ### The concept The file was encrypted with a symmetric key, so that same key is needed to decrypt it. The sender protects that key with the recipient’s public key. Only the recipient’s matching private key can recover it in the described workflow. The private key does not directly decrypt the file; it unlocks the key that was used on the file. ### The other options - **True**: This would be correct only if the file itself had been encrypted directly with the private key, which is not the hybrid procedure in the lesson. ### Terms - **Hybrid encryption**: A method that uses symmetric encryption for the file and asymmetric encryption for its key. - **Private key**: The recipient’s secret key used to recover the symmetric key. - **Symmetric key**: The shared secret key used to encrypt and decrypt the file. ### Watch out Do not confuse decrypting the key with decrypting the document. ### Remember Recover the symmetric key first, then decrypt the file.