1. Public key encryption schemes can be used for conventional encryption and digital
certificates.
a. What else can public key encryption schemes be used for?
[1]
b. Suppose that Romanus wants to send a message to Tjitjiri. Describe how a public
key encryption scheme can enable Romanus to send a digitally signed message to
Tjitjiri.
[4]
c. What is the drawback to the digital signature method described in (1b)?
[1]
d. What could be a more efficient way of obtaining a digital signature?
[2]
e. Give a practical example of the solution you mentioned in (1d)
[1]
f. Explain how the solution in (1d) can provide a digital signature
[3]
2. The point of public-key encryption is that the public key is public. Thus, if there is some
broadly accepted public-key algorithm, such as RSA, any participant can send his or her
public key to any other participant or broadcast the key to the community at large.
a. What is the problem to this approach for distributing public keys?
[2]
b. What is the solution to the problem identified in (2a)?
[1]
c. Explain how a user obtains a public-key certificate.
[3]
d. What are the contents of a public-key certificate?
[3]
e. Explain how Tuyapeni can verify Wesley’s public-key certificate.
[3]
f. Name a standard scheme that is universally accepted for formatting public-key
certificates.
[1]
3.
a. Howcan you protect your network from passive attacks?
[2]
b. How many keys are required for two people to communicate via an asymmetric
cipher?
[1]
c. Explain how public key encryption schemes can be used to distribute session keys
for symmetric encryption algorithms.
[6]
4. The SSL Record Protocol provides confidentiality and message integrity security services
for SSL connections.
a. Which 2 services does the SSL Record Protocol provides for SSL connections? [2]
b. Which method does SSL use to get message integrity?
[1]
c. Using your knowledge of SSL. Explain how SSL circumvents the attack given.
i. Brute-force cryptanalytic attack: An exhaustive search of the key space for
a conventional encryption algorithm.
[2]
ii. Man-in-the-middle attack: An attacker interposes during key exchange,
acting as the client to the server and as the server to the client.
[2]
iii. Password sniffing: Passwords in HTTP or other application traffic are
eavesdropped.
[2]
d. When Change Cipher spec protocol value is set to one; what happens?
[2]