Cryptography

Question 1

Compare

Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption

Answer 1

Symmetric: Uses the same key to encrypt/decrypt data.
Asymmetric: Uses a public and private key to encrypt and decrypt data respectively.

Question 2

Explain

A use case of asymmetric and symmetric encryption together

Answer 2

Establishing a secure connection using asymmetric encryption, making it now possible to use symmetric encryption.

Question 3

Recall

An asymmetric encryption method.

Answer 3

RSA

(an acronym for the founders’ names)

Question 4

Recall

Early encryption methods

Answer 4

• DES
• Mechanical encryption — WWII enigma machine
• Caesar cipher

Question 5

Recall

Why is DES no longer used?

Answer 5

It only stores a 56-bit key, which can be easily broken with modern processing speeds.

Question 6

Recall

Why was the WWII enigma machine no longer used?

Answer 6

It never encoded characters as themselves.