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Fundamental Cryptography Concepts Flashcards

7 cards from real CBP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

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  1. Which mathematical property makes elliptic curve cryptography secure for Bitcoin key generation?

    Answer: The discrete logarithm problem on elliptic curves is computationally infeasible to reverse

    ECDLP (Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem) means computing the private key from a public key is computationally infeasible with current technology.

  2. What does it mean for a hash function to be 'collision-resistant'?

    Answer: It is computationally infeasible to find two different inputs that produce the same hash output

    Collision resistance means that finding two distinct inputs x and y where H(x) = H(y) is computationally infeasible.

  3. In Bitcoin's Merkle tree, what is the Merkle root used for?

    Answer: To summarize all transactions in a block into a single hash for efficient verification

    The Merkle root is a single hash representing all transactions in a block, enabling lightweight clients to verify transactions without downloading the full block.

  4. What is the purpose of a nonce in Bitcoin's proof-of-work mining?

    Answer: Miners vary the nonce to find a block hash that meets the network difficulty target

    Miners increment the nonce field to produce different block hashes until one falls below the current difficulty target.

  5. Which of the following best describes a 'preimage attack' on a hash function?

    Answer: Finding an input that hashes to a given target output

    A preimage attack attempts to find an input m such that H(m) equals a specific target hash, breaking first preimage resistance.

  6. How does asymmetric cryptography differ from symmetric cryptography in Bitcoin's context?

    Answer: Asymmetric uses a public/private key pair while symmetric uses one shared secret key

    Asymmetric cryptography (used in Bitcoin for signing) uses mathematically linked key pairs, whereas symmetric cryptography uses a single shared key.

  7. What property ensures that a digital signature can only be created by the holder of the private key?

    Answer: Unforgeability — it is computationally infeasible to produce a valid signature without the private key

    Unforgeability means that without knowledge of the private key, producing a valid ECDSA signature over arbitrary data is computationally infeasible.