CISSP Cryptography 5

Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

MD5

Answer

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

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

Precomputed hash lookup attack; mitigated by salting passwords

Answer

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

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

The ability to swap cryptographic algorithms without major system redesign

Answer

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

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

Homomorphic encryption

Answer

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

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

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

Answer

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

CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional Practice Test

CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional Practice Test

CISSP Cryptography 5