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WGU Introduction to Cryptography Exam - Topic 2 Question 9 Discussion

(Employee A needs to send Employee B a symmetric key for confidential communication. Which key is used to encrypt the symmetric key?)
B) Employee B's public key
A) Employee A's private key
C) Employee A's public key
D) Employee B's private key

WGU Introduction to Cryptography Exam - Topic 2 Question 9 Discussion

Actual exam question for WGU's Introduction to Cryptography exam
Question #: 9
Topic #: 2
[All Introduction to Cryptography Questions]

(Employee A needs to send Employee B a symmetric key for confidential communication. Which key is used to encrypt the symmetric key?)

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Suggested Answer: B

When securely distributing a symmetric key over an untrusted network, a common approach is hybrid cryptography: use asymmetric cryptography to protect the symmetric key, then use the symmetric key for bulk encryption. To ensure only Employee B can recover the symmetric key, Employee A encrypts (wraps) that symmetric key using Employee B's public key. Because only Employee B should possess the matching private key, only B can decrypt the wrapped symmetric key. This is the same principle used in TLS key exchange (in older RSA key transport) and in secure email: encrypt the session key to the recipient's public key. Encrypting the symmetric key with Employee A's private key would not provide confidentiality---anyone with A's public key could reverse it, and it functions more like a signature than encryption. Employee B's private key should never be shared and is used only by B to decrypt. Therefore, for confidentiality of the shared symmetric key, the correct encryption key is Employee B's public key.


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I might be overthinking it, but could it be Employee A's private key? I need to double-check my notes on key exchanges.
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Mammie
5 days ago
This question feels familiar; I practiced one where a sender used a recipient's public key to send a secret message.
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Ruth
10 days ago
I'm not entirely sure, but I remember something about using public keys for encryption in asymmetric systems.
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Ashlyn
15 days ago
I think it's Employee B's public key since we need to encrypt the symmetric key for secure transmission.
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