Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH v12) — Question 212

Your company, Encryptor Corp, is developing a new application that will handle highly sensitive user information. As a cybersecurity specialist, you want to ensure this data is securely stored. The development team proposes a method where data is hashed and then encrypted before storage. However, you want an added layer of security to verify the integrity of the data upon retrieval. Which of the following cryptographic concepts should you propose to the team?

Answer options

• A. Switch to elliptic curve cryptography.
• B. Implement a block cipher mode of operation.
• C. Apply a digital signature mechanism.
• D. Suggest using salt with hashing.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C, as applying a digital signature mechanism ensures that the data's integrity can be verified upon retrieval, confirming that it has not been altered. Options A and B do not provide integrity verification, as they focus on encryption methods rather than data integrity. Option D, while useful for enhancing the security of hashing, does not specifically address the need for integrity verification after data retrieval.