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Cryptography and Computer Security

RSA and the factorization of large primes, MD5 broken by collisions, TLS behind every HTTPS, AES adopted by NIST in 2001: 10 questions for those who know why SHA-1 is no longer enough.

15

Questions

4

Minutes

Tip: Use keys 1-4 to answer quickly

The 15 quiz questions

Question 1 : Which asymmetric encryption algorithm is based on the factorization of large prime numbers?

Possible answers:

  • RSA
  • Blowfish
  • AES
  • DES

Explanation: RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) is based on the difficulty of factoring the product of two large prime numbers.

Question 2 : Which cryptographic hash function has been compromised and is now considered insecure?

Possible answers:

  • MD5
  • SHA-256
  • SHA-3
  • bcrypt

Explanation: MD5 and SHA-1 are considered vulnerable to collisions. MD5 was the first to be widely compromised.

Question 3 : Which protocol ensures HTTPS communication encryption?

Possible answers:

  • SMTP
  • FTP
  • TLS
  • SSH

Explanation: TLS (Transport Layer Security), successor to SSL, is the protocol that secures HTTPS connections.

Question 4 : Which attack exploits flaws in user input validation to execute malicious code?

Possible answers:

  • Phishing
  • DDoS
  • SQL Injection
  • Man-in-the-middle

Explanation: SQL injection allows executing malicious queries by exploiting poor user input validation.

Question 5 : Which symmetric encryption standard uses 128-bit blocks and 128, 192, or 256-bit keys?

Possible answers:

  • 3DES
  • AES
  • RC4
  • DES

Explanation: AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is the symmetric encryption standard adopted by NIST in 2001.

Question 6 : Which cryptographic concept allows proving knowledge of a secret without revealing it?

Possible answers:

  • Digital signature
  • Zero-Knowledge Proof
  • JWT Token
  • X.509 Certificate

Explanation: Zero-Knowledge Proofs allow proving a statement without revealing the underlying information.

Question 7 : Which type of cryptography is threatened by future quantum computers?

Possible answers:

  • Symmetric cryptography
  • Hash functions
  • Steganography
  • Asymmetric cryptography

Explanation: Asymmetric cryptography (RSA, ECC) is vulnerable to Shor's algorithm on quantum computers.

Question 8 : Which protocol allows secure key exchange over an insecure channel?

Possible answers:

  • Diffie-Hellman
  • HTTPS
  • OAuth
  • Kerberos

Explanation: Diffie-Hellman key exchange allows two parties to create a shared secret key over a public channel.

Question 9 : Which technique involves adding random data before hashing a password?

Possible answers:

  • Encryption
  • Compression
  • Padding
  • Salting

Explanation: Salting adds random data to passwords before hashing to counter rainbow table attacks.

Question 10 : What term describes a security flaw unknown to the vendor and unpatched?

Possible answers:

  • Rootkit
  • Exploit
  • Backdoor
  • Zero-day

Explanation: A zero-day vulnerability is a flaw unknown to the vendor, with no patch available when exploited.

Question 11 : Which elliptic curve algorithm is used in Bitcoin for signatures?

Possible answers:

  • EdDSA
  • RSA
  • ECDSA
  • DSA

Explanation: ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) with the secp256k1 curve is used to sign Bitcoin transactions.

Question 12 : Which block cipher mode uses an initialization vector and chains blocks?

Possible answers:

  • ECB
  • GCM
  • CTR
  • CBC

Explanation: CBC (Cipher Block Chaining) mode XORs each plaintext block with the previous ciphertext block before encryption.

Question 13 : Which infrastructure manages digital certificates and certificate authorities?

Possible answers:

  • DNS
  • RADIUS
  • PKI
  • LDAP

Explanation: PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) is the set of components that manage digital certificates and trust.

Question 14 : Which type of attack tries all possible combinations to find a password?

Possible answers:

  • Rainbow table
  • Brute force
  • Social engineering
  • Dictionary attack

Explanation: Brute force attacks systematically try all possible combinations until finding the correct password.

Question 15 : Which standard defines the format of digital certificates used on the Internet?

Possible answers:

  • X.509
  • S/MIME
  • PKCS#12
  • PGP

Explanation: X.509 is the ITU-T standard that defines the format of public key certificates used in TLS/SSL and other protocols.

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