What is the role of modular arithmetic in cryptography, and how does the Chinese Remainder Theorem enhance the efficiency of cryptographic algorithms?

Modular arithmetic is fundamental in cryptography for operations like key generation and encryption/decryption processes. The Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT) improves efficiency by breaking large computations into smaller, parallelizable tasks. For instance, RSA encryption can use CRT to speed up modular exponentiation, enhancing performance and security in cryptographic systems.