APCSP PRACTICE TEST MOCK EXAM WITH
ANSWER RATIONALES 2026
◉ d.
Answer: Alice posts a key for encrypting that anyone can access. Bob
uses that key to encrypt a message, then sends it to Alice. When
Alice receives the message, she decrypts it using a private key.
What kind of encryption process is this?
a. Vigenere cipher
b. Symmetric encryption
c. Certificate authority process
d. Public key encryption
◉ b.
Answer: What is a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack?
a. A coordinated effort by a group to simultaneously attempt to gain
entry to foreign government's servers or systems
b. An attempt to compromise a single target by flooding it with
requests from multiple systems.
c. An attempt to harass or extort all customers of one or more
Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
,d. An effort by network engineers to focus all systems on catching a
user or computer that has illegally gained access.
◉ a.
Answer: When storing data digitally, whether through cloud
computing or locally, there is an increased risk of theft due to the
relative ease of accessing the information.
Which of the following is NOT an example of security and privacy
concerns that arise from storing data digitally?
a. A manager looks up an employee's birthday in the online company
directory in order to plan a surprise birthday party for them at the
office.
b. An insurance company has a breach in their server that was
accessed through stolen user credentials and more than 80 million
records were compromised.
c. A company pays for a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack
that shuts down a competitors website for an extended period of
time.
d. A celebrity's phone is remotely accessed and photos are
downloaded and sold to a magazine company.
◉ b.
Answer: Not all uses of data are for the greater good. One of the
ways that hackers are able to abuse the system is to infiltrate
,systems and collect large data-sets that they are not supposed to
have access to. This began with phone numbers and access to long
distance calling and has transformed into a criminal environment
where user identities are bought and sold on the black market.
Why might a hacker want to extract a user profile from an innocent
site that has not financial connections?
a. Site data usually includes other sites visited in their search history.
b. Users might use similar passwords on other sites.
c. All sites are connected on the internet.
d. A user's name is all that is needed to breach a bank.
◉ d.
Answer: Which of the following scenarios is most characteristic of a
phishing attack.
a. You get an unwanted email trying to sell you a low quality product
or service that seems "fishy."
b. You accidentally install a piece of software that monitors your
activity to steal personal information like your passwords, date of
birth, social security number, etc.
, c. You accidentally run a piece of code that automatically spreads
from one computer to another, exploiting a common vulnerability
d. You get an email from the IT support desk that asks you to send a
reply email with your username and password to verify your
account
◉ c.
Answer: Caesar Cipher is an older and since outdated encryption
technique used by Julius Caesar to "hide" messages he sent to his
troops. Using Caesar Cipher, each letter in the alphabet is translated
to a letter with the same given offset from the original letter.
Characters that are not A-Z remain as is.
For example, if the message is HI ZOE and the shift is 2, the the
encrypted message is: JK BQG since the letter "J" is two letters after
"H" in the alphabet, and "K" is two letters after the "I" in the
alphabet, etc. Notice that since the "Z" is at the end of the alphabet
and the shift is 2, the algorithm has to wrap back around to the
beginning of the alphabet so that "Z" translates to "B". Suppose that
you want to encrypt the following message: REMAIN HOME. Of the
following, which would be a potential encrypted message using
Caesar Cipher?
a. TGPBKP JPQG
b. SFNCKO IPNF
c. UHPDLQ KRPH
d. PFLBHO INND
ANSWER RATIONALES 2026
◉ d.
Answer: Alice posts a key for encrypting that anyone can access. Bob
uses that key to encrypt a message, then sends it to Alice. When
Alice receives the message, she decrypts it using a private key.
What kind of encryption process is this?
a. Vigenere cipher
b. Symmetric encryption
c. Certificate authority process
d. Public key encryption
◉ b.
Answer: What is a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack?
a. A coordinated effort by a group to simultaneously attempt to gain
entry to foreign government's servers or systems
b. An attempt to compromise a single target by flooding it with
requests from multiple systems.
c. An attempt to harass or extort all customers of one or more
Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
,d. An effort by network engineers to focus all systems on catching a
user or computer that has illegally gained access.
◉ a.
Answer: When storing data digitally, whether through cloud
computing or locally, there is an increased risk of theft due to the
relative ease of accessing the information.
Which of the following is NOT an example of security and privacy
concerns that arise from storing data digitally?
a. A manager looks up an employee's birthday in the online company
directory in order to plan a surprise birthday party for them at the
office.
b. An insurance company has a breach in their server that was
accessed through stolen user credentials and more than 80 million
records were compromised.
c. A company pays for a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack
that shuts down a competitors website for an extended period of
time.
d. A celebrity's phone is remotely accessed and photos are
downloaded and sold to a magazine company.
◉ b.
Answer: Not all uses of data are for the greater good. One of the
ways that hackers are able to abuse the system is to infiltrate
,systems and collect large data-sets that they are not supposed to
have access to. This began with phone numbers and access to long
distance calling and has transformed into a criminal environment
where user identities are bought and sold on the black market.
Why might a hacker want to extract a user profile from an innocent
site that has not financial connections?
a. Site data usually includes other sites visited in their search history.
b. Users might use similar passwords on other sites.
c. All sites are connected on the internet.
d. A user's name is all that is needed to breach a bank.
◉ d.
Answer: Which of the following scenarios is most characteristic of a
phishing attack.
a. You get an unwanted email trying to sell you a low quality product
or service that seems "fishy."
b. You accidentally install a piece of software that monitors your
activity to steal personal information like your passwords, date of
birth, social security number, etc.
, c. You accidentally run a piece of code that automatically spreads
from one computer to another, exploiting a common vulnerability
d. You get an email from the IT support desk that asks you to send a
reply email with your username and password to verify your
account
◉ c.
Answer: Caesar Cipher is an older and since outdated encryption
technique used by Julius Caesar to "hide" messages he sent to his
troops. Using Caesar Cipher, each letter in the alphabet is translated
to a letter with the same given offset from the original letter.
Characters that are not A-Z remain as is.
For example, if the message is HI ZOE and the shift is 2, the the
encrypted message is: JK BQG since the letter "J" is two letters after
"H" in the alphabet, and "K" is two letters after the "I" in the
alphabet, etc. Notice that since the "Z" is at the end of the alphabet
and the shift is 2, the algorithm has to wrap back around to the
beginning of the alphabet so that "Z" translates to "B". Suppose that
you want to encrypt the following message: REMAIN HOME. Of the
following, which would be a potential encrypted message using
Caesar Cipher?
a. TGPBKP JPQG
b. SFNCKO IPNF
c. UHPDLQ KRPH
d. PFLBHO INND
