Scribd
Upload
18 views4 pages

CNS Viva QA

Uploaded by

Afeena Syed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
18 views4 pages

CNS Viva QA

Uploaded by

Afeena Syed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Cryptography and Network Security Viva Q&A

UNIT - I: Security Concepts and Techniques

1. What is Cryptography?

Cryptography is the technique of securing information and communication using codes. It ensures

confidentiality, integrity, and authentication.

2. What are the Principles of Security?

The main principles are confidentiality (data secrecy), integrity (data accuracy), availability,

authentication (user verification), and non-repudiation (accountability).

3. What are the Types of Security Attacks?

Security attacks are divided into passive (eavesdropping) and active attacks (modification,

masquerading, replay, or denial of service).

4. What is the Difference Between Symmetric and Asymmetric Key Cryptography?

Symmetric key cryptography uses a single key for encryption and decryption, while asymmetric

key cryptography uses two keys: public and private.

5. What is Steganography?

Steganography is the practice of hiding messages or data within other formats like images or

audio to conceal its existence.

6. What are Key Range and Key Size?


Key range refers to the total number of possible keys, while key size is the length of the key, which

impacts security (e.g., AES-128 or AES-256).

UNIT - II: Symmetric and Asymmetric Key Ciphers

1. What are Block Cipher Principles?

Block ciphers encrypt fixed-sized blocks of plaintext using substitution and permutation methods

for data transformation.

2. What is DES (Data Encryption Standard)?

DES is a symmetric key algorithm with a 56-bit key and 64-bit block size, performing 16 rounds of

Feistel structure encryption.

3. What is AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)?

AES is a secure block cipher supporting 128, 192, or 256-bit keys and uses SubBytes, ShiftRows,

MixColumns, and AddRoundKey operations.

4. Explain the RSA Algorithm.

RSA is an asymmetric algorithm that encrypts and decrypts data using public and private keys

based on modular exponentiation.

5. What is Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange?

It is a key exchange protocol where two parties securely generate a shared secret key over a

public communication channel.

UNIT - III: Hash Functions and Key Management


1. What are Hash Functions?

Hash functions take an input and produce a fixed-length hash value, ensuring data integrity and

detecting changes.

2. Explain SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm).

SHA algorithms, like SHA-1 and SHA-256, produce hash values (160-bit or 256-bit) to ensure

message integrity and prevent tampering.

3. What is the Difference Between HMAC and CMAC?

HMAC uses hash functions like SHA for authentication, whereas CMAC uses symmetric block

ciphers like AES for message integrity.

4. What are Digital Signatures?

Digital signatures provide authentication, integrity, and non-repudiation by signing data with the

sender's private key and verifying with the public key.

5. What is Kerberos?

Kerberos is a secure network authentication system that uses tickets to verify users and services

in a distributed environment.

UNIT - IV: Transport-Level and Wireless Security

1. What is SSL/TLS?

SSL/TLS are protocols that secure communication between devices on a network by encrypting

the data sent.


2. What is HTTPS?

HTTPS combines HTTP with SSL/TLS encryption to ensure secure communication between a

web server and a client.

3. Explain IEEE 802.11 Wireless Security.

Wireless security standards include WEP (weak), WPA (stronger with TKIP), and WPA2

(strongest, using AES encryption).

UNIT - V: Email Security and Case Studies

1. What is PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)?

PGP is used to secure emails by encrypting the content and providing digital signatures to ensure

privacy and authenticity.

2. What is S/MIME?

S/MIME is an email security standard that encrypts emails and provides digital signatures for

message authentication.

3. What is Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)?

XSS is a vulnerability where malicious scripts are injected into trusted websites to steal user data.

4. What is Single Sign-On (SSO)?

SSO allows users to log in once and gain access to multiple applications or systems without

repeatedly entering credentials.

You might also like