CAS-004 Security Engineering Practice Question
During a security assessment, an engineer discovers that a smartcard used for authentication is vulnerable to side-channel attacks. Which countermeasure would best mitigate power analysis attacks?
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
✓
Adding redundant cryptographic operations to equalize power consumption
Power analysis attacks exploit variations in power consumption; constant-time algorithms and power smoothing hardware help mitigate this.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Adding redundant cryptographic operations to equalize power consumption
Why this is correct
This makes power consumption more uniform, reducing leakage.
- ✗
Using a shielded enclosure to reduce electromagnetic emissions
Why it's wrong here
That mitigates TEMPEST, not power analysis.
- ✗
Increasing the key length
Why it's wrong here
Key length does not mitigate side-channel attacks.
- ✗
Implementing a hardware random number generator
Why it's wrong here
RNGs do not directly address power analysis.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CAS-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CAS-005 exam.