Eccouncil 212-81 Certified Encryption Specialist ECES Exam Practice Test

Answer : C

Answer : D

Total Break

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.

Incorrect answers:

Shannon's Entropy - average level of 'information', 'surprise', or 'uncertainty' inherent in the variable's possible outcomes. The concept of information entropy was introduced by Claude Shannon in his 1948 paper 'A Mathematical Theory of Communication'.

Avalanche effect - the desirable property of cryptographic algorithms, typically block ciphers and cryptographic hash functions, wherein if an input is changed slightly (for example, flipping a single bit), the output changes significantly (e.g., half the output bits flip). In the case of high-quality block ciphers, such a small change in either the key or the plaintext should cause a drastic change in the ciphertext.

Answer : A, C, D

Correct answers: 128, 192, 256

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

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known by its original name Rijndael, is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001.

AES is a subset of the Rijndael block cipher developed by two Belgian cryptographers, Vincent Rijmen and Joan Daemen, who submitted a proposal to NIST during the AES selection process. Rijndael is a family of ciphers with different key and block sizes. For AES, NIST selected three members of the Rijndael family, each with a block size of 128 bits, but three different key lengths: 128, 192 and 256 bits.

Answer : A

Skipjack

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

Skipjack uses an 80-bit key to encrypt or decrypt 64-bit data blocks. It is an unbalanced Feistel network with 32 rounds.

Answer : B

Cryptoanalysis

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

Cryptanalysis is the study of analyzing information systems in order to study the hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic security systems and gain access to the contents of encrypted messages, even if the cryptographic key is unknown.

Answer : C

Correct answer:

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

Feistel cipher (also known as Luby--Rackoff block cipher) is a symmetric structure used in the construction of block ciphers, named after the German-born physicist and cryptographer Horst Feistel who did pioneering research while working for IBM (USA); it is also commonly known as a Feistel network. A large proportion of block ciphers use the scheme, including the US Data Encryption Standard, the Soviet-developed GOST and the more recent Blowfish and Twofish ciphers. In a Feistel cipher, encryption and decryption are very similar operations, and both consist of iteratively running a function called a 'round function' a fixed number of times.

Incorrect answers:

Symmetric cryptography - Symmetric-key algorithms are algorithms for cryptography that use the same cryptographic keys for both encryption of plaintext and decryption of ciphertext. The keys may be identical or there may be a simple transformation to go between the two keys.

Substitution cipher - is a method of encrypting by which units of plaintext are replaced with ciphertext, according to a fixed system; the 'units' may be single letters (the most common), pairs of letters, triplets of letters, mixtures of the above, and so forth. The receiver deciphers the text by performing the inverse substitution.

Block ciphers - block cipher is a deterministic algorithm operating on fixed-length groups of bits, called blocks. It uses an unvarying transformation, that is, it uses a symmetric key. They are specified elementary components in the design of many cryptographic protocols and are widely used to implement the encryption of large amounts of data, including data exchange protocols.

Answer : A

Avalanche

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

In cryptography, the avalanche effect is the desirable property of cryptographic algorithms, typically block ciphers and cryptographic hash functions, wherein if an input is changed slightly (for example, flipping a single bit), the output changes significantly (e.g., half the output bits flip). In the case of high-quality block ciphers, such a small change in either the key or the plaintext should cause a drastic change in the ciphertext. The actual term was first used by Horst Feistel, although the concept dates back to at least Shannon's diffusion.

Incorrect answers:

Confusion - Confusion means that each binary digit (bit) of the ciphertext should depend on several parts of the key, obscuring the connections between the two.

The property of confusion hides the relationship between the ciphertext and the key.

This property makes it difficult to find the key from the ciphertext and if a single bit in a key is changed, the calculation of the values of most or all of the bits in the ciphertext will be affected.

Confusion increases the ambiguity of ciphertext and it is used by both block and stream ciphers.

Substitution - method of encrypting by which units of plaintext are replaced with ciphertext, according to a fixed system; the 'units' may be single letters (the most common), pairs of letters, triplets of letters, mixtures of the above, and so forth. The receiver deciphers the text by performing the inverse substitution.

Collision - occurs when a hash function generates the same output for different inputs.