SSCP Cryptography Practice Test 4 — 15 Questions

Question 1

In X.509 certificate format, which field is used to specify the fully qualified domain name(s) for which the certificate is valid?

Accepted Answer

Subject Alternative Name. The Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension in an X.509 certificate explicitly lists the fully qualified domain names (FQDNs), IP addresses, or other identifiers for which the certificate is valid. Modern browsers and TLS libraries primarily check the SAN field to validate a server's identity, ignoring the Common Name (CN) in the Subject field. The SAN is defined in RFC 5280 and is critical for multi-domain (SAN) certificates and wildcard certificates.

Answer

Key Usage

Answer

Issuer

Answer

Subject

Question 2

A security professional is designing a key management system and needs to ensure that keys are generated using a truly random source. Which of the following is the most appropriate method for generating cryptographic keys?

Accepted Answer

Hardware random number generator. A hardware random number generator (HRNG) uses a physical entropy source (e.g., thermal noise, quantum effects) to produce truly random numbers, making it the most appropriate for generating cryptographic keys. Cryptographic keys require high entropy and unpredictability; HRNGs provide true randomness, unlike deterministic PRNGs.

Answer

Cryptographically secure PRNG seeded with a static password

Answer

Pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) seeded with current timestamp

Answer

User-memorized passphrase

Question 3

Which of the following best describes the difference between HMAC and a simple hash function like SHA-256 when used for message authentication?

Accepted Answer

HMAC provides integrity and authentication; SHA-256 provides only integrity. HMAC incorporates a secret key into the hash process, providing authentication that a simple hash cannot.

Answer

HMAC is faster than SHA-256

Answer

SHA-256 produces a larger digest than HMAC

Answer

HMAC is used for encryption, not hashing

Question 4

A security team is implementing a PKI for a large enterprise. Which TWO of the following are commonly used methods for certificate revocation checking? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP). Option B, Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP), is correct because it is a standard protocol defined in RFC 6960 that allows a client to query a dedicated OCSP responder in real time to determine whether a specific certificate has been revoked, returning a status of good, revoked, or unknown. Option C, Certificate Revocation List (CRL), is correct because it is a signed list published by the Certificate Authority (typically distributed via HTTP, LDAP, or FTP at the CDP extension URL) that enumerates the serial numbers of certificates that have been revoked before their expiration date. The remaining options are not revocation-checking methods: a Certificate Signing Request (A) is a message sent to a CA to request issuance of a certificate, Key Escrow (D) is the practice of storing private keys with a third party for recovery purposes, and the Digital Signature Algorithm (E) is a signing algorithm used to create and verify digital signatures, not to check revocation status.

Answer

Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

Answer

Key Escrow

Answer

Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA)

Question 5

A company is selecting a cryptographic algorithm for digital signatures. Which THREE of the following algorithms can be used for digital signatures? (Select THREE.)

Accepted Answer

DSA. DSA (Option B) is a Digital Signature Algorithm designed specifically to generate and verify digital signatures using discrete logarithms, so it is correct. RSA (Option D) can produce digital signatures by signing a hash with the private key and verifying with the public key, making it a valid signature algorithm. ECDSA (Option E) is the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, which provides digital signatures based on elliptic-curve cryptography and is also correct. SHA-256 (Option A) is only a hash function used to create message digests, not a signature algorithm by itself, and AES (Option C) is a symmetric block cipher for encryption, not for digital signatures.

Answer

SHA-256

Answer

AES

Question 6

Which TWO of the following are considered secure cryptographic hash functions as of current standards? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

SHA-3. SHA-3 (Option A) is correct because it is the latest NIST-standardized hash function family (FIPS 202), based on the Keccak sponge construction, and remains resistant to known collision and preimage attacks. SHA-256 (Option E) is correct because it is part of the SHA-2 family (FIPS 180-4) and is still considered cryptographically secure for collision resistance and preimage resistance in current standards. RC4 (Option B) is a stream cipher, not a hash function, and is deprecated due to biases in its keystream. SHA-1 (Option C) is no longer considered secure because practical collision attacks (e.g., SHAttered) have been demonstrated. MD5 (Option D) is also broken, with trivial collision generation, so it is unsuitable for security purposes.

Answer

RC4

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SHA-1

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MD5

Question 7

A security analyst is evaluating the cryptographic settings for a new application that requires both confidentiality and integrity for data in transit. The analyst needs to choose a symmetric cipher that provides authenticated encryption. Which of the following is the best choice?

Accepted Answer

AES in GCM mode. AES in GCM mode provides authenticated encryption, offering both confidentiality and integrity/authenticity in a single operation. GCM (Galois/Counter Mode) is an AEAD (Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data) mode, making it the best choice for data in transit requiring both properties.

Answer

RC4 stream cipher

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AES in ECB mode

Answer

AES in CBC mode

Question 8

A security engineer is designing a key management system for a large enterprise. Which two of the following practices are essential for securing cryptographic keys throughout their lifecycle?

Accepted Answer

Store keys in dedicated hardware security modules (HSMs).. Option A is correct because dedicated hardware security modules (HSMs) provide tamper-resistant, FIPS 140-2/140-3 validated storage and cryptographic processing, ensuring keys are generated, used, and stored in a protected boundary and never exposed in plaintext on general-purpose systems. Option E is correct because regular key rotation limits the amount of data protected by any single key (cryptoperiod) and reduces the blast radius of a compromise, while rotation upon suspected or confirmed compromise ensures the exposed key is retired and replaced immediately. Options B, C, and D are not appropriate: reusing one key across encryption, digital signatures, and key exchange violates key-separation principles and increases the impact of any single key compromise; emailing keys exposes them to interception and unauthorized access; and storing keys alongside the encrypted data means a single database breach compromises both the ciphertext and the key needed to decrypt it.

Answer

Use the same key for encryption, digital signatures, and key exchange.

Answer

Email keys to authorized users for convenience.

Answer

Store keys in the same database as encrypted data.

Question 9

A company is upgrading its legacy systems to use modern cryptographic standards. Which two of the following algorithms should be avoided due to known weaknesses or deprecation?

Accepted Answer

MD5 for hashing. MD5 (option B) must be avoided because it is cryptographically broken: practical collision attacks (e.g., chosen-prefix collisions) make it unsuitable for hashing, digital signatures, or integrity checks, and it has been deprecated by NIST for security use. 3DES (option E) should also be avoided because its 64-bit block size enables Sweet32-style birthday attacks, and its effective key strength is reduced (e.g., 2-key 3DES offers only about 80 bits), leading to its deprecation and removal from standards such as NIST SP 800-131A. SHA-256 (option A) is a current, secure SHA-2 hash and remains approved for hashing. AES-256 (option C) is a strong, modern symmetric cipher with no practical breaks and is widely recommended. ECDH (option D) is a sound modern elliptic-curve key-exchange method and is not deprecated.

Answer

SHA-256 for hashing

Answer

AES-256 for encryption

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ECDH for key exchange

Question 10

A security administrator is setting up a public key infrastructure (PKI) for internal use. Which two of the following components are essential for establishing a chain of trust from the root CA to end-entity certificates?

Accepted Answer

An intermediate (subordinate) CA certificate signed by the root CA. The chain of trust must begin with a self-signed root CA certificate (C), which is the trust anchor that is inherently trusted and whose private key signs the certificates below it. To extend that trust to end-entity certificates without exposing the root's private key, an intermediate (subordinate) CA certificate signed by the root CA (A) is required, forming the hierarchical path root CA → intermediate CA → leaf certificate. A CSR (B) is only a request containing a public key and identity information that a CA uses to issue a certificate; it is not itself a link in the trust chain. An OCSP responder (D) and a CRL (E) are revocation-checking mechanisms that report certificate status, but they do not establish the chain of trust from the root CA to end-entity certificates.

Answer

A certificate signing request (CSR)

Answer

An online certificate status protocol (OCSP) responder

Answer

A certificate revocation list (CRL)

Question 11

A financial services company is deploying a new VPN concentrator that must support perfect forward secrecy (PFS) for all client sessions. The security team is configuring the IPsec phase 2 (Quick Mode) proposals. Which of the following should be configured to achieve PFS?

Accepted Answer

Enable Diffie-Hellman group 14 in the phase 2 proposal.. Perfect forward secrecy in IPsec is achieved by including a Diffie-Hellman group in the phase 2 (Quick Mode) proposal. This forces a new key exchange for each session, ensuring that compromise of one session key does not compromise other sessions. Encryption algorithms and authentication methods do not provide PFS; they serve different purposes.

Answer

Set the phase 1 lifetime to be shorter than the phase 2 lifetime.

Answer

Configure the phase 1 proposal to use RSA signatures for authentication.

Answer

Use AES-256-GCM for the phase 2 encryption algorithm.

Question 12

A security engineer is deploying a new VPN concentrator that must use a symmetric encryption algorithm approved by NIST for protecting sensitive government data. The algorithm must operate as a block cipher with a 128-bit block size and support key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bits. Which algorithm should the engineer select?

Accepted Answer

AES. AES is the only NIST-approved symmetric block cipher that meets all stated requirements: 128-bit block size and support for 128-, 192-, and 256-bit keys. It is widely implemented in VPN concentrators and is suitable for protecting sensitive government data. The other algorithms either have smaller block sizes, are asymmetric, or lack NIST approval for this use case.

Answer

RSA

Answer

Blowfish

Answer

3DES

Question 13

A security administrator is configuring a web server to use TLS 1.3. The administrator wants to ensure that the server supports forward secrecy for all connections. Which of the following key exchange mechanisms should be used?

Accepted Answer

Ephemeral Diffie-Hellman (DHE) or Elliptic Curve Ephemeral Diffie-Hellman (ECDHE). TLS 1.3 requires forward secrecy, which is achieved by using ephemeral key exchanges such as DHE or ECDHE. These generate a unique session key that is not derivable from the server's long-term private key. RSA and static DH key exchanges lack forward secrecy and are not supported in TLS 1.3. PSK alone also does not provide forward secrecy.

Answer

Pre-shared key (PSK) exchange

Answer

Static Diffie-Hellman (DH)

Answer

RSA key exchange

Question 14

A financial institution is implementing a digital signature solution to ensure the integrity and authenticity of wire transfer instructions. The solution must provide non-repudiation and use a NIST-approved algorithm. Which of the following should the security architect select?

Accepted Answer

ECDSA with SHA-256. ECDSA with SHA-256 is a NIST-approved digital signature algorithm that provides non-repudiation, integrity, and authenticity. It is based on elliptic curve cryptography, which is efficient and secure with smaller key sizes. The other options either lack non-repudiation (HMAC, AES-GCM) or use deprecated algorithms (RSA-1024 with SHA-1).

Answer

HMAC-SHA256

Answer

AES-256-GCM

Answer

RSA-1024 with SHA-1

Question 15

A healthcare provider must protect the confidentiality of patient records stored on a shared network drive. The compliance officer mandates that the encryption solution use a symmetric algorithm with a 256-bit key and operate as a block cipher. Which of the following should the security administrator select to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

AES-256. AES-256 is the correct choice because it is a symmetric block cipher with a 256-bit key, exactly matching the compliance requirement. RSA is asymmetric and too slow for bulk data, 3DES lacks the required key size and is deprecated, and SHA-256 is a hash function that provides no confidentiality. Only AES-256 satisfies all stated conditions for protecting stored records.

Answer

RSA-2048

Answer

SHA-256

Answer

3DES