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Cryptography Flashcards

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

Read the first 7 Cryptography flashcards as text

  1. Which of the following hash algorithms is considered cryptographically broken and should NOT be used for security purposes?

    Answer: MD5

    MD5 is cryptographically broken; practical collision attacks have been demonstrated, making it unsuitable for digital signatures or certificate integrity.

  2. What is a rainbow table attack, and what control most effectively mitigates it?

    Answer: Precomputed hash lookup attack; mitigated by salting passwords

    Rainbow tables are precomputed hash chains for cracking passwords; adding a unique random salt per password makes precomputed tables useless.

  3. In the context of CISSP, what does 'crypto agility' mean?

    Answer: The ability to swap cryptographic algorithms without major system redesign

    Crypto agility is designing systems so that cryptographic algorithms can be replaced quickly when vulnerabilities are discovered, without architectural overhaul.

  4. Which concept describes encrypting data so it remains encrypted while being processed, enabling computation on ciphertext without decrypting it?

    Answer: Homomorphic encryption

    Homomorphic encryption allows computations to be performed directly on encrypted data, with results that match operations on the plaintext when decrypted.

  5. What is the primary threat that quantum computing poses to current public-key cryptography systems like RSA and ECC?

    Answer: Shor's algorithm can efficiently factor large integers and compute discrete logs

    Shor's algorithm, runnable on a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, can factor integers and compute discrete logarithms exponentially faster, breaking RSA and ECC.

  6. Which type of cryptographic attack involves an adversary obtaining ciphertexts for plaintexts of their choice to deduce the key?

    Answer: Chosen-plaintext attack

    In a chosen-plaintext attack (CPA), the attacker can select arbitrary plaintexts, have them encrypted, and analyze the resulting ciphertexts to extract key information.

  7. What is the purpose of HMAC compared to a simple hash of a message?

    Answer: HMAC incorporates a secret key to provide both integrity and authentication

    HMAC (Hash-based MAC) combines a secret key with the message hash, ensuring that only parties sharing the key can generate or verify the MAC, adding authentication to integrity.