Cryptography

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a widely adopted symmetric-key algorithm that uses the same secret key for both encryption and decryption. RSA, ECC, and DSA are all asymmetric (public‑key) algorithms, relying on a key pair for encryption, digital signatures, or key exchange. Symmetric encryption is typically faster for bulk data protection.

Elliptic curve cryptography offers equivalent security to RSA using much smaller keys, which reduces computational overhead and improves performance on constrained devices. ECC still requires certificates for authentication, is also vulnerable to quantum algorithms, and relies on high‑quality randomness for key generation, similar to RSA.

AES is a widely used symmetric encryption standard, meaning it utilizes the same secret key for both encrypting and decrypting data. A diagram for this topic isn't available yet — the worked example below walks the same reasoning step by step.

• !Option A is incorrect because asymmetric encryption uses a public and private key pair, which is a different cryptographic approach used by algorithms like RSA.
• !They do not provide confidentiality (Option A) because the message body itself remains unencrypted unless a separate encryption process is applied.
• !It is commonly used for secure data transmission over the internet.

Answer each from memory — you'll see instantly whether you're right and why.

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