Alice wants to share a message with Bob, but Alice and Bob can never be in the s

Question

Alice wants to share a message with Bob, but Alice and Bob can never be in the same place at the same time. We can assume they both know each others public keys (or agreed on a shared key, if that makes a difference).

Is it safe for Alice to broadcast the ciphertext over the TV/radio/public internet/etc, or should she send Bob the ciphertext over video chat/phone/email?

I understand that modern algorithms are resistant to ciphertext-only attacks, but is the layer of obscuring the email from the public practically beneficial?

Explanation / Answer

That is exactly what encryption is designed to safely enable. If Bob and Alice could safely share the message without allowing attackers and eavesdroppers access to it, they would not, in fact, need encryption at all. So, yes, it is safe to allow any and everyone access to the ciphertext. You do want to authenticate it so that it cannot be tampered with in transit, but done correctly, we don't believe there is any non-negligible risk of compromising the confidentiality of the message.

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