ISA Cryptography & Encryption Standards

Question 1

Which encryption algorithm is currently recommended by NIST for protecting sensitive government data?

Accepted Answer

AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard)

Answer

AES-256 is the NIST-approved standard for encrypting sensitive and classified data, providing robust protection against brute-force attacks.

Question 2

What is the primary difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption?

Accepted Answer

Symmetric uses one shared key while asymmetric uses a public-private key pair

Answer

Symmetric encryption uses a single shared key for both encryption and decryption, while asymmetric encryption uses mathematically related public and private key pairs.

Question 3

What is the purpose of a digital certificate in ISA practice?

Accepted Answer

To verify the identity of a party and bind their public key to their identity

Answer

Digital certificates, issued by Certificate Authorities, verify the identity of entities and cryptographically bind their public keys to their verified identity.

Question 4

Which hashing algorithm is considered secure for current ISA implementations?

Accepted Answer

SHA-256 or SHA-3

Answer

SHA-256 and SHA-3 are considered cryptographically secure hashing algorithms, while MD5 and SHA-1 have known vulnerabilities.

Question 5

What is perfect forward secrecy (PFS) in the context of ISA?

Accepted Answer

A property ensuring that compromise of long-term keys does not compromise past session keys

Answer

Perfect forward secrecy ensures that even if long-term private keys are compromised, previously recorded encrypted sessions cannot be decrypted.

ISA - Information Security Analyst Certification Practice Test

ISA - Information Security Analyst Certification Practice Test

ISA Cryptography & Encryption Standards