Ethical Hacking Cryptography and Encryption 2

Question 1

Which symmetric encryption algorithm is considered the current US government standard and is used widely in security applications?

Accepted Answer

AES

Answer

AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) was adopted by NIST in 2001 as the US federal standard, supporting 128, 192, and 256-bit key sizes and is considered highly secure.

Question 2

What is a 'hash collision' and why does it matter for security?

Accepted Answer

Two different inputs producing the same hash output, undermining hash integrity

Answer

A hash collision occurs when two different input values produce identical hash outputs, compromising integrity verification and allowing attackers to substitute malicious files undetected.

Question 3

What does 'salting' a password hash mean?

Accepted Answer

Adding a unique random value to each password before hashing to prevent rainbow table attacks

Answer

Salting adds a unique random value to each password before hashing, ensuring identical passwords produce different hashes and rendering rainbow table attacks ineffective.

Question 4

Which asymmetric algorithm is widely used for digital signatures and secure key exchange in SSL/TLS?

Accepted Answer

RSA

Answer

RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) is a widely used asymmetric algorithm for digital signatures, encryption, and key exchange, with security based on the difficulty of factoring large prime numbers.

Question 5

What is 'perfect forward secrecy' (PFS) in cryptography?

Accepted Answer

Using unique session keys so past sessions remain secure even if long-term keys are compromised

Answer

Perfect Forward Secrecy ensures each session uses a unique ephemeral key, so compromising the long-term private key cannot decrypt previously recorded sessions.

Ethical Hacking Practice Test

Ethical Hacking Practice Test

Ethical Hacking Cryptography and Encryption 2