WGU D334 Newest Questions and Answers
(2026/2027) | Comprehensive Review | A+
Verified
• asymmetric key-based encryption
-typical methods . Answer: RSA
DSA
El Gamal
• Symmetric key-based encryption
-Typical Methods . Answer: RC2- 40 bit key size 64 bit block
RC4- (Stream Cipher)- Used in SSL and WEP
RC5- (Variable Key size, 32, 64, or 128 bit block size)
AES- (128, 192 or 256 bit key size, 128 bit block size)
DES- (56 bit key size. 64 bit Block size)
3DES- (112 bit key size, 64 bit block size)
• Block Encryption . Answer: RC2(40 bit key size)
RC5(Variable block size)
IDEA
DES
3DES
AES (Rijndael)
Blowfish
twofish
• stream encryption . Answer: RC4
Chacha
• Rainbow Attack . Answer: The method of knowing the mapping between the hashed
values and the original data
• Dictionary-type attack . Answer: a brute force analysis
• ∉ . Answer: does not belong to
when an object is not in a set
• ∈ . Answer: Belongs to
when an object is within a set
• ⊆ . Answer: subset
subset has fewer elements or equal to the set
• A ∪ B . Answer: union (objects that belong to set A or set B)
,• | . Answer: such that
• A ∩ B . Answer: Intersection: in both A and B
• Enigma Machine -Cypher 10 . Answer: Used a polyalphabetic substitution cipher,
which did not repeat within a reasonable time period, along with a secret key. For the
cracking of the Enigma cipher, the challenge was thus to determine both the algorithm
used and the key. Enigma's main weakness, though, was that none of the plain text
letters could be ciphered as itself.
• Four-square cipher9 . Answer: Uses four 5 × 5 matrices arranged in a square, are
where each matrix contains 25 letters for encoding and decoding operations.
• One-time pad cypher8 . Answer: Cypher Code mapping that is only used once.
Advantage: it is essentially unbreakable.
Disadvantage: it takes lots of work as you would have to generate the pad to be used,
each time.
• Vigenere Cipher 7 . Answer: Polyalphabetic cipher that involves using a different
mapping, based on a keyword, for each character of the cipher. An advantage of this
type of cipher is that the same plaintext character is likely to be coded to different
mappings, depending on the position of the keyword, making guessing more difficult.
• Ceasar Cipher6 . Answer: Mono-alphabetic substitution cipher known as "shift" cipher.
Involves plaintext being replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions down the
alphabet. i.e., a Caesar Cipher using a shift of +3 would mean a plaintext letter A would
result in a ciphertext letter D (a shift of three positions to the right in the alphabet)
• Morse Code cipher 5 . Answer: Encoding method, rather than a cipher, that works by
translating characters into sequences of dots (.) and dashes (-)
• Playfair Cipher 4 . Answer: 5 × 5 matrix containing the alphabet less the letter J.
Cipher/decipher process consists of a set of rules outlining use of column and row
combinations.
• BIFID Cipher 3 . Answer: Makes use of a grid and which maps the letters into numeric
values.
• Rail Code Cipher 2 . Answer: Employs a method to scramble text by writing it in a
sequence across a number of rails.
• Pig Pen Cipher 1 . Answer: Mono- alphabetic substitution cipher that makes use of
mapping plaintext characters to graphical characters rather than to alphabetic ones. i.e.
A=(pick a symbol), vs A=(pick a letter). Disadvantage: once the mapping is known, it is
difficult to keep the message secret.
, • Encryption . Answer: in simplest terms is changing plaintext into ciphertext
• Decryption . Answer: The process of converting a ciphertext into plaintext.
• AESCrypt . Answer: Encrypt individual files and encrypt full disks with options such as
Bitlocker and FileVault
• Mono-alphabetic . Answer: c code or substitution is where a single mapping from our
alphabet to a cipher alphabet is created. Many early cryptosystems used this.
• Polyalphabetic . Answer: refers to the mapping of our alphabet to a number of cipher
alphabets. This approach added a bit of complexity to early cryptosystems.
• One-time pad . Answer: is considered to be unbreakable since it only uses its cipher
code once.
• Pseudo-Random Number Generators (PRNGs) . Answer: This method repeats the
random numbers after a given time (periodic). They are fast and are also deterministic
and are useful in producing a repeatable set of random numbers.
• Frequency Analysis . Answer: is cipher cracking methodology that involves identifying
patterns and variations in the probability of codes. i.e. a three-letter ciphered text
combination spotted at the beginning of a string too often could tip us off that those
three letters correlate the letters THE in the English alphabet.
• True Random Number Generators (TRNGs) . Answer: This method generates a true
random number and uses some form of random process. One approach is to monitor
the movements of a mouse pointer on a screen or from the pauses between keystrokes.
Overall, the method is generally slow, especially if it involves human interaction, but is
non-deterministic and aperiodic.
• Entropy . Answer: measures level of unpredictability; in encryption relates to the
degree of uncertainty of the encryption process.
• ASCII . Answer: 8-bit values, up to 256 characters
• UTF-16 . Answer: 16- bit values, up to 65,536 characters
• Hardware vs Software encryption . Answer: Hardware encryption is more efficient than
software encryption.
• Hardware Security Module (HSM) . Answer: is a tamper-evident and intrusion-resistant
physical device that safeguards and manages cryptographic keys and provides
cryptographic processing.
(2026/2027) | Comprehensive Review | A+
Verified
• asymmetric key-based encryption
-typical methods . Answer: RSA
DSA
El Gamal
• Symmetric key-based encryption
-Typical Methods . Answer: RC2- 40 bit key size 64 bit block
RC4- (Stream Cipher)- Used in SSL and WEP
RC5- (Variable Key size, 32, 64, or 128 bit block size)
AES- (128, 192 or 256 bit key size, 128 bit block size)
DES- (56 bit key size. 64 bit Block size)
3DES- (112 bit key size, 64 bit block size)
• Block Encryption . Answer: RC2(40 bit key size)
RC5(Variable block size)
IDEA
DES
3DES
AES (Rijndael)
Blowfish
twofish
• stream encryption . Answer: RC4
Chacha
• Rainbow Attack . Answer: The method of knowing the mapping between the hashed
values and the original data
• Dictionary-type attack . Answer: a brute force analysis
• ∉ . Answer: does not belong to
when an object is not in a set
• ∈ . Answer: Belongs to
when an object is within a set
• ⊆ . Answer: subset
subset has fewer elements or equal to the set
• A ∪ B . Answer: union (objects that belong to set A or set B)
,• | . Answer: such that
• A ∩ B . Answer: Intersection: in both A and B
• Enigma Machine -Cypher 10 . Answer: Used a polyalphabetic substitution cipher,
which did not repeat within a reasonable time period, along with a secret key. For the
cracking of the Enigma cipher, the challenge was thus to determine both the algorithm
used and the key. Enigma's main weakness, though, was that none of the plain text
letters could be ciphered as itself.
• Four-square cipher9 . Answer: Uses four 5 × 5 matrices arranged in a square, are
where each matrix contains 25 letters for encoding and decoding operations.
• One-time pad cypher8 . Answer: Cypher Code mapping that is only used once.
Advantage: it is essentially unbreakable.
Disadvantage: it takes lots of work as you would have to generate the pad to be used,
each time.
• Vigenere Cipher 7 . Answer: Polyalphabetic cipher that involves using a different
mapping, based on a keyword, for each character of the cipher. An advantage of this
type of cipher is that the same plaintext character is likely to be coded to different
mappings, depending on the position of the keyword, making guessing more difficult.
• Ceasar Cipher6 . Answer: Mono-alphabetic substitution cipher known as "shift" cipher.
Involves plaintext being replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions down the
alphabet. i.e., a Caesar Cipher using a shift of +3 would mean a plaintext letter A would
result in a ciphertext letter D (a shift of three positions to the right in the alphabet)
• Morse Code cipher 5 . Answer: Encoding method, rather than a cipher, that works by
translating characters into sequences of dots (.) and dashes (-)
• Playfair Cipher 4 . Answer: 5 × 5 matrix containing the alphabet less the letter J.
Cipher/decipher process consists of a set of rules outlining use of column and row
combinations.
• BIFID Cipher 3 . Answer: Makes use of a grid and which maps the letters into numeric
values.
• Rail Code Cipher 2 . Answer: Employs a method to scramble text by writing it in a
sequence across a number of rails.
• Pig Pen Cipher 1 . Answer: Mono- alphabetic substitution cipher that makes use of
mapping plaintext characters to graphical characters rather than to alphabetic ones. i.e.
A=(pick a symbol), vs A=(pick a letter). Disadvantage: once the mapping is known, it is
difficult to keep the message secret.
, • Encryption . Answer: in simplest terms is changing plaintext into ciphertext
• Decryption . Answer: The process of converting a ciphertext into plaintext.
• AESCrypt . Answer: Encrypt individual files and encrypt full disks with options such as
Bitlocker and FileVault
• Mono-alphabetic . Answer: c code or substitution is where a single mapping from our
alphabet to a cipher alphabet is created. Many early cryptosystems used this.
• Polyalphabetic . Answer: refers to the mapping of our alphabet to a number of cipher
alphabets. This approach added a bit of complexity to early cryptosystems.
• One-time pad . Answer: is considered to be unbreakable since it only uses its cipher
code once.
• Pseudo-Random Number Generators (PRNGs) . Answer: This method repeats the
random numbers after a given time (periodic). They are fast and are also deterministic
and are useful in producing a repeatable set of random numbers.
• Frequency Analysis . Answer: is cipher cracking methodology that involves identifying
patterns and variations in the probability of codes. i.e. a three-letter ciphered text
combination spotted at the beginning of a string too often could tip us off that those
three letters correlate the letters THE in the English alphabet.
• True Random Number Generators (TRNGs) . Answer: This method generates a true
random number and uses some form of random process. One approach is to monitor
the movements of a mouse pointer on a screen or from the pauses between keystrokes.
Overall, the method is generally slow, especially if it involves human interaction, but is
non-deterministic and aperiodic.
• Entropy . Answer: measures level of unpredictability; in encryption relates to the
degree of uncertainty of the encryption process.
• ASCII . Answer: 8-bit values, up to 256 characters
• UTF-16 . Answer: 16- bit values, up to 65,536 characters
• Hardware vs Software encryption . Answer: Hardware encryption is more efficient than
software encryption.
• Hardware Security Module (HSM) . Answer: is a tamper-evident and intrusion-resistant
physical device that safeguards and manages cryptographic keys and provides
cryptographic processing.
