Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH v11) — Question 346

Sam, a web developer, was instructed to incorporate a hybrid encryption software program into a web application to secure email messages. Sam used an encryption software, which is a free implementation of the OpenPGP standard that uses both symmetric-key cryptography and asymmetric-key cryptography for improved speed and secure key exchange.
What is the encryption software employed by Sam for securing the email messages?

Answer options

• A. PGP
• B. SMTP
• C. GPG
• D. S/MIME

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C, GPG, as it is a free implementation of the OpenPGP standard that uses both symmetric and asymmetric cryptography. Option A, PGP, is a proprietary version of the same standard, while B, SMTP, is a protocol for sending emails and not an encryption software. D, S/MIME, is another email encryption standard, but it is not based on OpenPGP.