Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH v12) — Question 271

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 employs both symmetric and asymmetric cryptography for secure communication. PGP (A) is also related but not the free implementation mentioned. SMTP (B) is a protocol for sending emails and does not involve encryption, while S/MIME (D) is a standard for public key encryption but is not the software Sam utilized.