Have you checked out
sci.crypt faqs?
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All I know is it involves primes and factoring.
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A reference to RSA public-key encryption? I don't know if you include this in "basics" (though I'd hope most intro cryptography books, layman or otherwise, would cover this) -- if not, you might try
"The mathematical guts of RSA encyption" (not tough math, don't worry).