212-81 EC-Council Certified Encryption Specialist (ECES) Questions and Answers

Explanation

Finding any method that is more efficient than brute force

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis

Bruce Schneier notes that even computationally impractical attacks can be considered breaks: "Breaking a cipher simply means finding a weakness in the cipher that can be exploited with a complexity less than brute force."

WPA2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Access

WPA (sometimes referred to as the draft IEEE 802.11i standard) became available in 2003. The Wi-Fi Alliance intended it as an intermediate measure in anticipation of the availability of the more secure and complex WPA2, which became available in 2004 and is a common shorthand for the full IEEE 802.11i (or IEEE 802.11i-2004) standard.

Explanation

Revoked certificates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Certificate_Status_Protocol

The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) is an Internet protocol used for obtaining the revocation status of an X.509 digital certificate.It is described in RFC 6960 and is on the Internet standards track. It was created as an alternative to certificate revocation lists (CRL), specifically addressing certain problems associated with using CRLs in a public key infrastructure (PKI). Messages communicated via OCSP are encoded in ASN.1 and are usually communicated over HTTP. The "request/response" nature of these messages leads to OCSP servers being termed OCSP responders.

Factoring numbers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem)

RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) is a public-key cryptosystem that is widely used for secure data transmission. It is also one of the oldest. The acronym RSA comes from the surnames of Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman, who publicly described the algorithm in 1977. An equivalent system was developed secretly, in 1973 at GCHQ (the British signals intelligence agency), by the English mathematician Clifford Cocks. That system was declassified in 1997.

In a public-key cryptosystem, the encryption key is public and distinct from the decryption key, which is kept secret (private). An RSA user creates and publishes a public key based on two large prime numbers, along with an auxiliary value. The prime numbers are kept secret. Messages can be encrypted by anyone, via the public key, but can only be decoded by someone who knows the prime numbers.

By substituting each letter for the letter from the opposite end of the alphabet (i.e. A becomes Z, B becomes Y, etc.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atbash

The Atbash cipher is a particular type of monoalphabetic cipher formed by taking the alphabet (or abjad, syllabary, etc.) and mapping it to its reverse, so that the first letter becomes the last letter, the second letter becomes the second to last letter, and so on.

Hash

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function

Hash functions are irreversible. This is actually required for them to fulfill their function of determining whether someone possesses an uncorrupted copy of the hashed data. This brings susceptibility to brute force attacks, which are quite powerful these days, particularly against MD5.

multi-alphabet encryption

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyalphabetic_cipher

Two different shifts create two different alphabets.

For +1 and +2

Plaintext alphabet

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

2 ciphertext alphabets

B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A

C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B

Explanation

Key escrow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_escrow

Key escrow (also known as a “fair” cryptosystem) is an arrangement in which the keys needed to decrypt encrypted data are held in escrow so that, under certain circumstances, an authorized third party may gain access to those keys. These third parties may include businesses, who may want access to employees' secure business-related communications, or governments, who may wish to be able to view the contents of encrypted communications (also known as exceptional access).

Instance Deduction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis

The results of cryptanalysis can also vary in usefulness. For example, cryptographer Lars Knudsen (1998) classified various types of attack on block ciphers according to the amount and quality of secret information that was discovered:

Total break — the attacker deduces the secret key.

Global deduction — the attacker discovers a functionally equivalent algorithm for encryption and decryption, but without learning the key.

Instance (local) deduction — the attacker discovers additional plaintexts (or ciphertexts) not previously known.

Information deduction — the attacker gains some Shannon information about plaintexts (or ciphertexts) not previously known.

Distinguishing algorithm — the attacker can distinguish the cipher from a random permutation.

DH

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffie%E2%80%93Hellman_key_exchange

Diffie–Hellman key exchange is a method of securely exchanging cryptographic keys over a public channel and was one of the first public-key protocols as conceived by Ralph Merkle and named after Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman. DH is one of the earliest practical examples of public key exchange implemented within the field of cryptography. Published in 1976 by Diffie and Hellman, this is the earliest publicly known work that proposed the idea of a private key and a corresponding public key.

Random bits intermixed with a hash to increase randomness and reduce collisions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(cryptography)

Salt is random data that is used as an additional input to a one-way function that hashes data, a password or passphrase. Salts are used to safeguard passwords in storage. Historically a password was stored in plaintext on a system, but over time additional safeguards were developed to protect a user's password against being read from the system. A salt is one of those methods.

CRL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_revocation_list

In cryptography, a certificate revocation list (or CRL) is "a list of digital certificates that have been revoked by the issuing certificate authority (CA) before their scheduled expiration date and should no longer be trusted".

Kerkchoff's principle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerckhoffs%27s_principle

Kerckhoffs's principle (also called Kerckhoffs's desideratum, assumption, axiom, doctrine or law) of cryptography was stated by Netherlands born cryptographer Auguste Kerckhoffs in the 19th century: A cryptosystem should be secure even if everything about the system, except the key, is public knowledge.

Kerckhoffs's principle was reformulated (or possibly independently formulated) by American mathematician Claude Shannon as "the enemy knows the system", i.e., "one ought to design systems under the assumption that the enemy will immediately gain full familiarity with them". In that form, it is called Shannon's maxim. This concept is widely embraced by cryptographers, in contrast to "security through obscurity", which is not.

Explanation

Decoding

Decoding - reverse process from encoding,converting the encoded message back into its plaintext format.

Diffie-Hellman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffie%E2%80%93Hellman_key_exchange

Diffie-Hellman key exchange is a method of securely exchanging cryptographic keys over a public channel and was one of the first public-key protocols as originally conceptualized by Ralph Merkle and named after Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman. DH is one of the earliest practical examples of public key exchange implemented within the field of cryptography.

Menezes-Qu-Vanstone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQV

MQV (Menezes–Qu–Vanstone) is an authenticated protocol for key agreement based on the Diffie–Hellman scheme. Like other authenticated Diffie–Hellman schemes, MQV provides protection against an active attacker. The protocol can be modified to work in an arbitrary finite group, and, in particular, elliptic curve groups, where it is known as elliptic curve MQV (ECMQV).

MQV was initially proposed by Alfred Menezes, Minghua Qu and Scott Vanstone in 1995. It was modified with Law and Solinas in 1998.

SHA2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collision_resistance

Collision resistance is a property of cryptographic hash functions: a hash function H is collision-resistant if it is hard to find two inputs that hash to the same output; that is, two inputs a and b where a ≠ b but H(a) = H(b). The pigeonhole principle means that any hash function with more inputs than outputs will necessarily have such collisions; the harder they are to find, the more cryptographically secure the hash function is.

Due to the Birthday Problem, for a hash function that produces an output of length n bits, the probability of getting a collision is 1/2^n/2.

So, just looking for a hash function with larger "n".

The SHA-2 family consists of six hash functions with digests (hash values) that are 224, 256, 384 or 512 bits: SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, SHA-512/224, SHA-512/256.

Explanation

DSA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Signature_Algorithm

DSA is covered by U.S. Patent 5,231,668 , filed July 26, 1991 and now expired, and attributed to David W. Kravitz, a former NSA employee. This patent was given to "The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Commerce, Washington, D.C.", and NIST has made this patent available worldwide royalty-free. Claus P. Schnorr claims that his U.S. Patent 4,995,082 (also now expired) covered DSA; this claim is disputed.

Explanation

Cipher disks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher_disk

A cipher disk is an enciphering and deciphering tool developed in 1470 by the Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti. He constructed a device, (eponymously called the Alberti cipher disk) consisting of two concentric circular plates mounted one on top of the other. The larger plate is called the "stationary" and the smaller one the "moveable" since the smaller one could move on top of the "stationary".

Explanation

Rail Fence Cipher

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_fence_cipher

The rail fence cipher (also called a zigzag cipher) is a form of transposition cipher. It derives its name from the way in which it is encoded.

3DES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_DES

Triple DES (3DES) has a three different keys with same size (56-bit).

Explanation

Key Schedule

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_schedule

In cryptography, the so-called product ciphers are a certain kind of cipher, where the (de-)ciphering of data is typically done as an iteration of rounds. The setup for each round is generally the same, except for round-specific fixed values called a round constant, and round-specific data derived from the cipher key called a round key. A key schedule is an algorithm that calculates all the round keys from the key.

Asymmetric

Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is a cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys: public keys, which may be disseminated widely, and private keys, which are known only to the owner. The generation of such keys depends on cryptographic algorithms based on mathematical problems to produce one-way functions. Effective security only requires keeping the private key private; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security.

Blowfish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowfish_(cipher)

Blowfish is a symmetric-key block cipher, designed in 1993 by Bruce Schneier and included in many cipher suites and encryption products.

Explanation

y^2 = x^3 + Ax + B

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic-curve_cryptography

For current cryptographic purposes, an elliptic curve is a plane curve over a finite field (rather than the real numbers) which consists of the points satisfying the equation:

Explanation

SHA-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-1

SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) is a cryptographic hash function which takes an input and produces a 160-bit (20-byte) hash value known as a message digest – typically rendered as a hexadecimal number, 40 digits long. It was designed by the United States National Security Agency, and is a U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard.

SHA-1 produces a message digest based on principles similar to those used by Ronald L. Rivest of MIT in the design of the MD2, MD4 and MD5 message digest algorithms, but generates a larger hash value (160 bits vs. 128 bits).

Explanation

Asymmetric

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography

Asymmetric cryptography, is a cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys: public keys, which may be disseminated widely, and private keys, which are known only to the owner. The generation of such keys depends on cryptographic algorithms based on mathematical problems to produce one-way functions. Effective security only requires keeping the private key private; the public key can be openly distributed without compromising security.

Explanation

Collision attacks try to find two inputs producing the same

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collision_attack

A collision attack on a cryptographic hash tries to find two inputs producing the same hash value, i.e. a hash collision. This is in contrast to a preimage attack where a specific target hash value is specified.

Correct answers: One-way, Fixed length output

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographic_hash_function

A cryptographic hash function is a mathematical algorithm that maps data of arbitrary size (often called the "message") to a bit array of a fixed size (the "hash value", "hash", or "message digest"). It is a one-way function, that is, a function which is practically infeasible to invert.

Explanation

Integral Cryptanalysis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_cryptanalysis

Integral cryptanalysis is a cryptanalytic attack that is particularly applicable to block ciphers based on substitution-permutation networks. It was originally designed by Lars Knudsen as a dedicated attack against Square, so it is commonly known as the Square attack. It was also extended to a few other ciphers related to Square: CRYPTON, Rijndael, and SHARK. Stefan Lucks generalized the attack to what he called a saturation attack and used it to attack Twofish, which is not at all similar to Square, having a radically different Feistel network structure. Forms of integral cryptanalysis have since been applied to a variety of ciphers, including Hierocrypt, IDEA, Camellia, Skipjack, MISTY1, MISTY2, SAFER++, KHAZAD, and FOX (now called IDEA NXT).

Explanation

Each block of plaintext is XORed with the previous ciphertext block before being encrypted

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher_mode_of_operation#Cipher_block_chaining_(CBC)

In CBC mode, each block of plaintext is XORed with the previous ciphertext block before being encrypted. This way, each ciphertext block depends on all plaintext blocks processed up to that point. To make each message unique, an initialization vector must be used in the first block.

2^56

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Encryption_Standard

The Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a symmetric-key algorithm for the encryption of digital data. Although its short key length of 56 bits makes it too insecure for applications, it has been highly influential in the advancement of cryptography.

Kasiski Method

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasiski_examination

In cryptanalysis, Kasiski examination (also referred to as Kasiski's test or Kasiski's method) is a method of attacking polyalphabetic substitution ciphers, such as the Vigenère cipher. It was first published by Friedrich Kasiski in 1863, but seems to have been independently discovered by Charles Babbage as early as 1846.

Explanation

Scytale

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scytale

A scytale is 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 in 7th century BC to communicate during military campaigns.

The recipient uses a rod of the same diameter on which the parchment is wrapped to read the message. It has the advantage of being fast and not prone to mistakes—a necessary property when on the battlefield. It can, however, be easily broken. Since the strip of parchment hints strongly at the method, the ciphertext would have to be transferred to something less suggestive, somewhat reducing the advantage noted.

Explanation

Brute force

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brute-force_attack

A brute-force attack consists of an attacker submitting many passwords or passphrases with the hope of eventually guessing correctly. The attacker systematically checks all possible passwords and passphrases until the correct one is found. Alternatively, the attacker can attempt to guess the key which is typically created from the password using a key derivation function. This is known as an exhaustive key search.

A brute-force attack is a cryptanalytic attack that can, in theory, be used to attempt to decrypt any encrypted data (except for data encrypted in an information-theoretically secure manner). Such an attack might be used when it is not possible to take advantage of other weaknesses in an encryption system (if any exist) that would make the task easier.

The server that grants Kerberos tickets

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerberos_(protocol)

The client authenticates itself to the Authentication Server (AS) which forwards the username to a key distribution center (KDC). The KDC issues a ticket-granting ticket (TGT), which is time stamped and encrypts it using the ticket-granting service's (TGS) secret key and returns the encrypted result to the user's workstation. This is done infrequently, typically at user logon; the TGT expires at some point although it may be transparently renewed by the user's session manager while they are logged in.

Encrypting with RSA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem)

RSA Encrypting a message m (number) with the public key (n, e) is calculated:

M' := m^e %n

Explanation

RIPEMD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIPEMD

RIPEMD (RIPE Message Digest) is a family of cryptographic hash functions developed in 1992 (the original RIPEMD) and 1996 (other variants). There are five functions in the family: RIPEMD, RIPEMD-128, RIPEMD-160, RIPEMD-256, and RIPEMD-320, of which RIPEMD-160 is the most common.

The original RIPEMD, as well as RIPEMD-128, is not considered secure because 128-bit result is too small and also (for the original RIPEMD) because of design weaknesses. The 256- and 320-bit versions of RIPEMD provide the same level of security as RIPEMD-128 and RIPEMD-160, respectively; they are designed for applications where the security level is sufficient but longer hash result is necessary.

A pseudo random number generator

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_congruential_generator

A linear congruential generator (LCG) is an algorithm that yields a sequence of pseudo-randomized numbers calculated with a discontinuous piecewise linear equation. The method represents one of the oldest and best-known pseudorandom number generator algorithms. The theory behind them is relatively easy to understand, and they are easily implemented and fast, especially on computer hardware which can provide modular arithmetic by storage-bit truncation.

Explanation

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_Equivalent_Privacy#Weak_security

In 2007, Erik Tews, Andrei Pychkine, and Ralf-Philipp Weinmann were able to extend Klein's 2005 attack and optimize it for usage against WEP. With the new attack it is possible to recover a 104-bit WEP key with probability 50% using only 40,000 captured packets. For 60,000 available data packets, the success probability is about 80% and for 85,000 data packets about 95%. Using active techniques like deauth and ARP re-injection, 40,000 packets can be captured in less than one minute under good conditions. The actual computation takes about 3 seconds and 3 MB of main memory on a Pentium-M 1.7 GHz and can additionally be optimized for devices with slower CPUs. The same attack can be used for 40-bit keys with an even higher success probability.

Fibonacci Sequence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted Fn, form a sequence, called the Fibonacci sequence, such that each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, starting from 0 and 1. That is,

F0 = 0, F1=1, Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2; for n > 1.

The beginning of the sequence is thus:

0,1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144…

AES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetric-key_algorithm

AES - symmetric cipher. Symmetric keys use the same key for both encryption and decryption. Both the sender and receiver of the data must know and share the secret key. For standard encrypt/decrypt functions, symmetric algorithms generally perform much faster than their asymmetrical counterparts. This is due to the fact that asymmetric cryptography is massively inefficient. Symmetric cryptography is designed precisely for the efficient processing of large volumes of data. In other words, symmetric encryption is generally used for speed and performance, e.g. when there's a large amount of data that needs to be encrypted/protected.

Atbash

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atbash

Atbash is a monoalphabetic substitution cipher originally used to encrypt the Hebrew alphabet. It can be modified for use with any known writing system with a standard collating order.

Explanation

FORK-256

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FORK-256

FORK-256 was introduced at the 2005 NIST Hash workshop and published the following year.[6] FORK-256 uses 512-bit blocks and implements preset constants that change after each repetition. Each block is hashed into a 256-bit block through four branches that divides each 512 block into sixteen 32-bit words that are further encrypted and rearranged.

Explanation

Correct answers: Co-prime numbers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprime_integers

Two integers a and b are said to be relatively prime, mutually prime, or coprime if the only positive integer (factor) that evenly divides both of them is 1. Consequently, any prime number that divides one of a or b does not divide the other. This is equivalent to their greatest common divisor (gcd) being 1.

The numerator and denominator of a reduced fraction are coprime. The numbers 14 and 25 are coprime, since 1 is their only common divisor. On the other hand, 14 and 21 are not coprime, because they are both divisible by 7.

The algorithm(s) needed to encrypt and decrypt a message

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher

In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. To encipher or encode is to convert information into cipher or code. In common parlance, "cipher" is synonymous with "code", as they are both a set of steps that encrypt a message; however, the concepts are distinct in cryptography, especially classical cryptography.

RSA

The RSA encryption algorithm is one of the most widely used public key encryption algorithms that have ever been invented. It was created by the three scientists Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman in 1977, and today it is increasingly being used in the network area.

Explanation

Salting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(cryptography)

A salt is random data that is used as an additional input to a one-way function that hashes data, a password or passphrase. Salts are used to safeguard passwords in storage. Historically a password was stored in plaintext on a system, but over time additional safeguards were developed to protect a user's password against being read from the system.

A new salt is randomly generated for each password. In a typical setting, the salt and the password (or its version after key stretching) are concatenated and processed with a cryptographic hash function, and the output hash value (but not the original password) is stored with the salt in a database. Hashing allows for later authentication without keeping and therefore risking exposure of the plaintext password in the event that the authentication data store is compromised.

Salts defend against a pre-computed hash attack, e.g. rainbow tables.Since salts do not have to be memorized by humans they can make the size of the hash table required for a successful attack prohibitively large without placing a burden on the users. Since salts are different in each case, they also protect commonly used passwords, or those users who use the same password on several sites, by making all salted hash instances for the same password different from each other.

Explanation

DSA

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSA

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) proposed DSA for use in their Digital Signature Standard (DSS) in 1991, and adopted it as FIPS 186 in 1994.

DSA is covered by U.S. Patent 5,231,668 , filed July 26, 1991 and now expired, and attributed to David W. Kravitz, a former NSA employee.

Enigma Machine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine

The Enigma machine is an encryption device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during World War II, in all branches of the German military.

Enigma has an electromechanical rotor mechanism that scrambles the 26 letters of the alphabet.

Explanation

Output feedback (OFB)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher_mode_of_operation#Output_feedback_(OFB)

The output feedback (OFB) mode makes a block cipher into a synchronous stream cipher. It generates keystream blocks, which are then XORed with the plaintext blocks to get the ciphertext. Just as with other stream ciphers, flipping a bit in the ciphertext produces a flipped bit in the plaintext at the same location. This property allows many error-correcting codes to function normally even when applied before encryption.

Explanation

Salt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(cryptography)

A salt is random data that is used as an additional input to a one-way function that hashes data, a password or passphrase. Salts are used to safeguard passwords in storage. Historically a password was stored in plaintext on a system, but over time additional safeguards were developed to protect a user's password against being read from the system. A salt is one of those methods.

DES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Encryption_Standard

DES is the archetypal block cipher—an algorithm that takes a fixed-length string of plaintext bits and transforms it through a series of complicated operations into another ciphertext bitstring of the same length. In the case of DES, the block size is 64 bits. DES also uses a key to customize the transformation, so that decryption can supposedly only be performed by those who know the particular key used to encrypt. The key ostensibly consists of 64 bits; however, only 56 of these are actually used by the algorithm. Eight bits are used solely for checking parity, and are thereafter discarded. Hence the effective key length is 56 bits.