EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) v12CryptographyMedium
A company is implementing end-to-end encryption for its internal messaging system. They need a cryptographic algorithm that uses the same key for both encryption and decryption, offering high speed for large volumes of data. Which type of algorithm would best suit these requirements?
- ASymmetric encryption
- BDigital signature algorithm
- CHashing algorithm
- DAsymmetric encryption
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Symmetric encryption
Symmetric encryption algorithms use a single, shared secret key for both encryption and decryption. They are generally much faster than asymmetric algorithms and are well-suited for encrypting large amounts of data, which aligns with the requirement for high speed for large volumes of data in an internal messaging system.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Digital signature algorithms provide authenticity and non-repudiation, not confidentiality of message content.
- C. Hashing algorithms provide integrity, not encryption for confidentiality.
- D. Asymmetric encryption uses a public/private key pair and is much slower, typically used for key exchange or digital signatures.
Symmetric Encryption
Symmetric encryption, also known as secret-key cryptography, uses a single, shared secret key for both encrypting plaintext into ciphertext and decrypting ciphertext back into plaintext.
- Uses one key for both operations.
- Generally faster than asymmetric encryption.
- Key distribution is a challenge.
Memory trick: Symmetric is single, Asymmetric is two-key strong.