100-160 Question 38
Single answerA company's IT team is setting up secure communication between its internal servers and remote offices over the internet. To ensure confidentiality and integrity of the transmitted data, which encryption method and application should they use?
- A
Symmetric encryption with a shared key for all endpoints
- B
Asymmetric encryption with public and private keys for key exchange and session establishment
- C
Hashing algorithms to encrypt the data during transmission
- D
Plaintext transmission with periodic password authentication
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Asymmetric encryption is the most suitable method for establishing secure communication in distributed environments, as it allows for secure key exchange between endpoints without the need to pre-share keys. This approach is widely used in technologies like VPNs and HTTPS to ensure confidentiality and data integrity over public networks.
- A. Incorrect.
Symmetric encryption is efficient for encrypting large amounts of data, but it requires securely distributing the shared key to all endpoints, which can be challenging in a distributed environment like remote offices.
- B. Correct.
Asymmetric encryption uses public and private key pairs to securely exchange keys for establishing encrypted sessions. This method ensures confidentiality and integrity of data and is commonly used for secure communication like VPNs or HTTPS.
- C. Incorrect.
Hashing algorithms are designed for data integrity verification, not encryption. They cannot be used to encrypt or decrypt transmitted data.
- D. Incorrect.
Plaintext transmission offers no encryption, leaving the data vulnerable to interception, even if passwords are used periodically. This does not ensure confidentiality or integrity.