Symmetric and asymmetric algorithms, hashing, digital signatures, and public key infrastructure concepts tested across CISSP domains, beyond the architecture overview deck.
41 cards · basic cards · AI-written, checked twice. Edit anything.
- What are the block size and key size of DES?
- 64-bit block size, 56-bit effective key size (64 bits with 8 parity bits)
- How does 3DES strengthen DES?
- Applies DES encryption three times using two or three different keys, creating effective key lengths of 112 or 168 bits
- What are the block size and key size options for AES?
- 128-bit block size with key sizes of 128, 192, or 256 bits
- How many rounds does AES-128 perform?
- 10 rounds
- What is a major cryptographic weakness of RC4?
- Keystream bias and weak initial bytes; certain plaintext patterns can leak information about the key
- Which asymmetric algorithms base their security on the discrete logarithm problem?
- DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm) and Diffie-Hellman
- What is RSA based on?
- The mathematical difficulty of factoring large composite numbers into their prime factors
- What mathematical problem does Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) rely on?
- The elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem
- What is the primary purpose of Diffie-Hellman?
- To allow two parties to securely establish a shared secret key over an insecure channel
- What is the output size of SHA-256?
- 256 bits, or 32 bytes
- Why is SHA-1 considered cryptographically broken?
- Practical collision attacks have been published; collisions can be found in less than 2^63 operations instead of the theoretical 2^80
- Why is MD5 unsuitable for digital signatures?
- Practical collision attacks have been demonstrated; collisions can be computed in seconds on modern hardware
- What is a hash collision?
- Two different inputs that produce the same hash output
- What does HMAC add to a standard hash function?
- A secret key, allowing the function to provide both message integrity and message authentication
- What is preimage resistance in a cryptographic hash function?
- It is computationally infeasible to find any input that produces a specific hash output