What is the primary role of a digital certificate in establishing trust?

It provides a secret key that both parties share.

It binds a public key to an identity, which is vouched for by a trusted CA.

It encrypts all data transmitted between two parties.

It stores the user's password in an encrypted format.

What is the primary weakness that a brute-force attack exploits in a cryptographic system?

Poorly chosen passwords used to derive keys

The use of the same key for multiple messages

Insufficient key length, making exhaustive search feasible

A flaw in the algorithm's mathematical structure

A security analyst needs to ensure that a configuration file has not been altered since it was approved. The analyst does not need to hide the contents of the file. Which cryptographic technique should be used?

Digitally sign the file with a private key.

Encrypt the file with a symmetric key.

Compute a hash of the file and store it securely.

A security analyst is reviewing a system that uses RSA with a 1024-bit key. The analyst is concerned about the algorithm's long-term security. Which action is MOST appropriate?

Use a longer hash function with the same RSA key.

Migrate to RSA with a 2048-bit key or use an elliptic curve algorithm.

Keep 1024-bit RSA because it is still widely used.

Increase the padding scheme to improve security.

GIAC Information Security Fundamentals

Domain 4Objective 1

Foundations of Cryptography and Digital Trust GISF Practice Questions (Page 6)

Part of the Cryptography and Identity domain, which makes up ~14% of our current practice bank. GIAC (SANS) does not publish an official question count, but from its 120-minute exam (~50–80 total, ~7–11 in this domain), expect 4–6 from this objective — we provide 45 practice questions to prepare you well beyond it. (estimate)

45questions here

9free pages

7concepts

Questions 26–30

26foundation · easy
What is the primary role of a digital certificate in establishing trust?
Select an answer first
27foundation · easy
A security analyst needs to ensure that a message has not been altered during transmission. Which cryptographic purpose is the analyst primarily applying?
Select an answer first
28foundation · easy
What is the primary weakness that a brute-force attack exploits in a cryptographic system?
Select an answer first
29application · medium
A security analyst needs to ensure that a configuration file has not been altered since it was approved. The analyst does not need to hide the contents of the file. Which cryptographic technique should be used?
Select an answer first
30expert · hard
A security analyst is reviewing a system that uses RSA with a 1024-bit key. The analyst is concerned about the algorithm's long-term security. Which action is MOST appropriate?
Select an answer first

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