Exam Questions with Answers
attack tree - Correct Answers: _.To improve the security of a system, we must improve the weakest link.
But to do that, we need to know what the links are and which ones are weak. This is best done using a
hierarchical tree structure. Each part of a system has multiple links, and each link in turn has sublinks.
We can organize the links into what we call an __.
adversarial setting - Correct Answers: One of the biggest differences between security systems and
almost any other type of engineering is the __. Most engineers have to contend with problems like
storms, heat, and wear and tear. All of these factors affect designs, but their effect is fairly predictable to
an experienced engineer. Not so in security systems. Our opponents are intelligent, clever, malicious,
and devious; they'll do things nobody had ever thought of before.
Caesar Cipher - Correct Answers: One of the oldest encryption methods. Also known as a shift cipher, is
one of the simplest forms of encryption. It is a substitution cipher where each letter in the original
message (called the plaintext) is replaced with a letter corresponding to a certain number of letters up
or down in the alphabet.
Atbash Cipher - Correct Answers: Hebrew cipher which substitutes the first letter of the alphabet for the
last, and the second letter for the second-to-last, in other words, it simply reverses the alphabet.
Affine Cipher - Correct Answers: An __ is any single-substitution alphabet cipher (also called mono-
alphabet substitution) in which each letter in the alphabet is mapped to some numeric value, permuted
with some relatively simple mathematical function, and then converted back to a letter
ROT13 cipher - Correct Answers: This more recent cipher uses the same mechanism as the Caesar cipher
but moves each letter 13 places forward
Scytale - Correct Answers: A tool used to perform a transposition cipher, consisting of a cylinder with a
strip of parchment wound around it on which is written a message. The ancient Greeks, and the
Spartans in particular, are said to have used this cipher to communicate during military campaigns.
The recipient uses a rod of the same diameter on which the parchment is wrapped to read the message.
,Cipher Disk - Correct Answers: Cryptographic device that uses two concentric disks, each with an
alphabet around the periphery
Vigenère cipher (Vee-zha-nair) - Correct Answers: a method of encrypting text by applying a series of
Caesar ciphers based on the letters of a keyword.
Playfair Cipher - Correct Answers: Invented by Charles Wheatstone in 1854. Encrypts two letters instead
of one, this makes it more complex. Uses a 5x5 table containing a keyword. No more secure than any
other older ciphers.
ADFGVX Cipher - Correct Answers: Invented by Colonel Fritz Nebel in 1918. It is a 6x6 grid with ADFGVX
at the top of each column and beginning of each row. The 26 letters and numbers 0-10 are placed
randomly on the table. You then replace each character of your message with two characters which are
represented by the column followed by the row each character is present in.
Homophonic Substitution - Correct Answers: Early attempt to make substitution ciphers more robust,
masks letter frequencies, plain text letters map to multiple cipher text symbols
Null cipher - Correct Answers: Hiding plaintext within other plaintext. A form of steganography.
Book cipher - Correct Answers: Cryptographic method that uses whole words from a well-known text
such as a dictionary as a one-to-one replacement for plaintext
Rail Fence Cipher - Correct Answers: Most widely known transposition cipher, encrypts the message by
altering each letter on a different row, message must then be written down left to right and put into
rows
CrypTool - Correct Answers: Free tool that allows you to enter text and then choose a historical
algorithm to encrypt the text
Kasiski examination - Correct Answers: A method of attacking polyalphabetic substitution ciphers, this
method can be used to deduce the length of the keyword used in a polyalphabetic substitution cipher.
This is sometimes also called Kasiski's test or Kasiski's method.
, Kerckhoffs's Principle - Correct Answers: A cryptography principle that states that the algorithm should
not be the secret part of the cryptographic process or method used; the principle states that the key
should be the secret part of the cryptosystem.
Symmetric Algorithms - Correct Answers: Operate with a single cryptographic key that is used for both
encryption and decryption of the message. Examples are DES, 3DES, DESX, AES, Blowfish, Serpent,
Twofish, Skipjack, IDEA
Asymmetric Algorithms - Correct Answers: uses two keys. One key is used to encrypt and the other to
decrypt. The sender and receiver have two different keys. Examples are RSA, ECC, Diffie-Hellman, El
Gamal, Knapsack, and DSA.
TPM (Trusted Platform Module) - Correct Answers: A chip on the motherboard used with software
applications for security. It can be used with Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption to provide full-disk
encryption and to monitor for system tampering.
HSM (Hardware Security Module) - Correct Answers: A removable or external device that can generate,
store, and manage RSA keys used in asymmetric encryption.
C = E(k,p) Cipher text (C) is equal to the encryption function (E) with the key (k) and plaintext (p) being
passed as parameters to that function. - Correct Answers: Symmetric encryption is expressed
mathematically as:
P = E(k,c) Plaintext (P) is equal to the encryption function (E) with the key (k) and Cipher text (c) being
passed as parameters to that function. - Correct Answers: Symmetric decryption is expressed
mathematically as:
Key Clustering - Correct Answers: When different encryption keys generate the same ciphertext from
the same plaintext message.
synchronous - Correct Answers: Encryption or decryption is performed immediately - typically used with
stream ciphers.