CAS-004 Security Engineering Practice Question
A company requires a cryptographic hash function for integrity verification of large files. The solution must be resistant to length extension attacks and provide high performance. Which of the following is the best choice?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
SHA-3
SHA-3 is not vulnerable to length extension attacks and offers good performance. SHA-256 is vulnerable to length extension. BLAKE3 is fast but less standardized. MD5 is broken and insecure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
BLAKE3
Why it's wrong here
BLAKE3 is very fast but not as widely standardized as SHA-3.
- ✗
SHA-256
Why it's wrong here
SHA-256 is vulnerable to length extension attacks.
- ✓
SHA-3
Why this is correct
SHA-3 is resistant to length extension attacks and is a NIST standard.
- ✗
MD5
Why it's wrong here
MD5 is cryptographically broken and not suitable for integrity verification.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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