CISSP Question of the Week: Asymmetric Encryption

CISSP Question of the Week courtesy of Transcender Labs.

You need to decrypt a file that is encrypted using asymmetric encryption. What should be used to decrypt the file?

A. Message digest
B. Plaintext
C. Private key
D. Public key

Reveal Answer

The correct answer is C.

A private key is used to decrypt a file that uses asymmetric encryption. In asymmetric encryption, which is sometimes referred to as public key encryption, a user creates a public key and a private key pair. The user distributes the public key and retains the private key. Another user can then use the distributed public key to encrypt a file before sending that file to the owner of the private key. The owner then uses the private key to decrypt the received file. If a hacker wants to decrypt a file that was encrypted with a user’s public key, then the hacker must gain access to or fabricate a replacement for the private key.

A message digest, which is created by a hashing algorithm, can be used to determine whether a file has been modified subsequent to the creation of the file’s message digest. Plaintext refers to unencrypted files.

Related Course
CISSP Certification Prep Course

CISSP Question of the Week Series

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• CISSP Question of the Week: Terrorist Attacks
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• CISSP Question of the Week: Asymmetric Encryption

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