CASE CASE Cryptography & Data Protection 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which password hashing function is recommended for secure storage due to its adaptive work factor?
- MD5
- SHA-1
- bcrypt (Correct answer)
- CRC32
Correct answer: bcrypt
bcrypt is a password hashing function with a configurable work factor that makes brute-force attacks computationally expensive.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a digital certificate?
- Encrypting files on local storage
- Binding a public key to a verified entity identity (Correct answer)
- Generating symmetric session keys
- Compressing transmitted data
Correct answer: Binding a public key to a verified entity identity
A digital certificate binds a public key to the identity of an entity, verified and signed by a trusted Certificate Authority.
Question 3: What role does a Certificate Authority (CA) play in PKI?
- Encrypts all network traffic
- Issues, signs, and manages digital certificates (Correct answer)
- Manages firewall access rules
- Authenticates user passwords directly
Correct answer: Issues, signs, and manages digital certificates
A Certificate Authority issues and digitally signs certificates, establishing a chain of trust for public key validation.
Question 4: What does cryptographic key management encompass?
- Creating strong user passwords only
- Administering keys through their full lifecycle including generation, storage, rotation, and destruction (Correct answer)
- Encrypting all keys with a single master password
- Rotating user account credentials quarterly
Correct answer: Administering keys through their full lifecycle including generation, storage, rotation, and destruction
Key management covers the entire cryptographic key lifecycle: generation, distribution, storage, rotation, and secure destruction.
Question 5: Which cryptographic property ensures a sender cannot deny having transmitted a message?
- Confidentiality
- Integrity
- Non-repudiation (Correct answer)
- Availability
Correct answer: Non-repudiation
Non-repudiation prevents an originator from denying having sent a message, typically enforced through digital signatures.
Question 6: What is the purpose of a cryptographic salt?
- A master encryption key used to protect other keys
- A random value added before hashing to defeat precomputed rainbow table attacks (Correct answer)
- A symmetric algorithm used for bulk encryption
- A certificate revocation mechanism
Correct answer: A random value added before hashing to defeat precomputed rainbow table attacks
A salt is a unique random value appended to each password before hashing, ensuring identical passwords produce distinct hash outputs.
CASE CASE Cryptography & Data Protection 2
Which password hashing function is recommended for secure storage due to its adaptive work factor?