CCSB3113: Cryptography

Quiz 1

DATE: 31/10/2023; TIME: 10:40 AM

Name - LINGGAESWARAN
Student ID: CS01083112

Section 1: Choose one answer.

Q1. What is the main aim of cryptography?

a. To make information completely inaccessible to unauthorized parties
b. To make information only partially accessible to authorized parties
c. To make information more convenient to access
d. To make information more prone to interception

Q2. Which type of cryptography uses a single key for both encryption and decryption?
a. Symmetric cryptography
b. Asymmetric cryptography
c. Quantum cryptography
d. Steganography

Q3. The process of converting plaintext into unreadable scrambling can be called:
a. Decryption
b. Encryption
c. Hashing
d. Encoding

Q4. What type of cryptographic attack enabling an attacker to observe one or more plaintext–ciphertext pairs
that are formed with the secret key. In this attack the attacker also is trying to derive information from the
differences in the ciphertext to reveal the plaintext?
a. Known-Plaintext Attack
b. Brute Force Attack
c. Frequency Analysis
d. Chosen Ciphertext Attack

Q5. Which of the following is NOT a symmetric encryption algorithm?

a. AES
b. RSA
c. DES
d. None of the above

Q6. What type of cryptographic technique involves replacing each letter in the plaintext with another letter to
maintain the original letter’s position in the alphabet, such as shifting the alphabet by a fixed number of
positions in a Caesar Cipher?
a. Substitution Cipher
b. Transposition Cipher
c. Vigenère Cipher
d. Keyless Transposition Cipher

Q7. In a transposition cipher, how does the encryption process work?

a. Letters are replaced with different letters based on a predefined substitution table.
 b. A combination of letters and symbols are used to represent the plaintext.
c. Letters are shifted by a fixed number of positions in the alphabet.
d. The position of letters in the plaintext is changed, but the letters themselves remain the same.

Q8. Which of the following statements is true about the security of substitution and transposition ciphers?
a. Substitution ciphers are generally more secure than transposition ciphers.
b. Transposition ciphers are generally more secure than substitution ciphers.
c. Both substitution and transposition ciphers are considered highly secure in modern cryptography.
d. Both substitution and transposition ciphers are vulnerable to modern cryptographic attacks and are not
considered secure for protecting sensitive information.

Q9. Encrypt the word: STUDENT with key: UNITEN using Vigenère Cipher. A Table is attached in Appendix 1.
a. NRIVLRL
b. FRKMYEY
c. LFCUUJW
d. MGCWIAN

Q10. Encrypt the following word with Caesar Cipher. Word= I LIKE CRYPTOGRAPHY; Key= +24.
a. M PMOI GVCTXSKVETLC
b. K NKMG ETARVQITCRJA
c. F IFHB ZOVMQLDOXMEV
d. G JGIC APWNRMEPYNFW

How to answer Question 1: 2A or 5C

Section 2: Short Answer.

1. Explain the concept of a substitution cipher and provide an example.

A substitution cipher is a method of encrypting messages by replacing letters with other letters or
symbols based on a predetermined key.

Example:
Plaintext: HELLO
Key: H->X, E->Q, L->M, O->A
Encrypted: XQMMA

2. Define a transposition cipher and describe its working principle. Provide one example of a
transposition encryption technique.

A transposition cipher is a method that rearranges the letters of the plaintext in a specific way, without
changing the letters themselves and Transposition ciphers are relatively simple to implement and can
be quite effective against brute-force attacks, but they can be vulnerable to frequency analysis attacks.
One example of a transposition encryption technique is the columnar transposition cipher. which works
by writing the plaintext out in rows and then rearranging the columns in a different order.