WGU C178 COMPTIA Security+ Key Terms Exam Questions and Answers 2024/2025
Spam - correct answer The abuse of electronic messaging systems such as e-mail, texting, social media, broadcast media, instant messaging, and so on.
Threat vector - correct answer The method that a threat uses to acces...
Spam - correct answer The abuse of electronic messaging systems such as e-mail,
texting, social media, broadcast media, instant messaging, and so on.
Threat vector - correct answer The method that a threat uses to access a target.
Attack Vector - correct answer The means by which an attacker gains access to a
computer in order to deliver malicious software.
Typosquatting/URL hijacking - correct answer A user is attempting to access a website
but types the incorrect domain name by mistake, the user could be redirected to an
altogether unwanted website, possibly malicious in nature.
Botnet - correct answer A group of compromised computers used to distribute malware
across the Internet; the members are referred to as "bots" and are usually zombies.
Zombies - correct answer An individual compromised computer in a botnet.
Active Interception - correct answer Normally refers to placing a computer between the
sender and the receiver in an effort to capture and possibly modify information.
Privilege escalation - correct answer The act of exploiting a bug or design flaw in a
software or firmware application to gain access to resources that normally would've
been protected from an application or user.
Backdoor - correct answer Used in computer programs to bypass normal
authentication and other security mechanisms in place.
,Logic bomb - correct answer Code that has, in some way, been inserted into software;
it is meant to initiate some type of malicious function when specific criteria are met.
Time Bomb - correct answer A Trojan programmed to set off on a certain date.
Cryptography - correct answer The practice and study of hiding information, or more
accurately, hiding the meaning of the information.
Encryption - correct answer The process of changing information using an algorithm
(or cipher) into another form that is unreadable by others—unless they possess the key
to that data.
Cipher - correct answer An algorithm that can perform encryption or decryption.
Key - correct answer The essential piece of information that determines the output of a
cipher.
Private Key - correct answer Only known to a specific user or users who keep the key
a secret.
Public Key - correct answer It is known to all parties involved in encrypted transactions
within a given group.
Stream Cipher - correct answer A type of algorithm that encrypts each binary digit in
the data stream, one bit at a time.
Block Cipher - correct answer A type of algorithm that encrypts a group of bits
collectively as individual units known as blocks.
Symmetric Key Algorithm - correct answer A class of cipher that uses a single key,
identical keys, or closely related keys for both encryption and decryption.
Digital Signature - correct answer A signature that authenticates a document through
math, letting the recipient know that the document was created and sent by the actual
sender and not someone else.
Algorithm - correct answer Well-defined instructions that describe computations from
their initial state to their final state.
Public Key Cryptography - correct answer Uses asymmetric keys alone or in addition
to symmetric keys. The asymmetric key algorithm creates a secret private key and a
published public key.
Data Encryption Standard (DES) - correct answer An older type of block cipher
selected by the U.S. federal government back in the 1970s as its encryption standard;
due to its weak key, it is now considered deprecated.
Triple DES (3DES) - correct answer Similar to DES but applies the cipher algorithm
three times to each cipher block.
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) - correct answer A symmetric key encryption
standard, used with WPA and WPA2, that is the successor to DES/3DES and is
composed of three different block ciphers: AES-128, AES-192, and AES-256.
RSA - correct answer A public key cryptography algorithm created by Rivest, Shamir,
Adleman. It is commonly used in e-commerce.
One-time pad - correct answer A cipher that encrypts plaintext with a secret random
key that is the same length as the plaintext.
Diffie-Hellman key exchange - correct answer Invented in the 1970s, the first practical
method for establishing a shared secret key over an unprotected communications
channel.
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