312-50V11 · Question #383
Which of the following levels of algorithms does Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) use?
The correct answer is A. RSA 1024 bit strength. PKI relies on asymmetric cryptography, and RSA is the standard public-key algorithm used, historically at 1024-bit key strength.
Question
Which of the following levels of algorithms does Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) use?
Options
- ARSA 1024 bit strength
- BAES 1024 bit strength
- CRSA 512 bit strength
- DAES 512 bit strength
How the community answered
(69 responses)- A94% (65)
- B1% (1)
- C3% (2)
- D1% (1)
Why each option
PKI relies on asymmetric cryptography, and RSA is the standard public-key algorithm used, historically at 1024-bit key strength.
PKI is fundamentally built on asymmetric (public-key) cryptography, and RSA is the predominant algorithm used for certificate-based operations such as signing and key exchange. RSA 1024-bit was the traditional baseline key length for PKI implementations, though current standards now recommend a minimum of 2048-bit due to advances in factoring attacks.
AES is a symmetric encryption algorithm and is not used for PKI's asymmetric key operations; additionally, 1024-bit is not a valid AES key size - AES is defined only for 128, 192, and 256-bit keys.
RSA 512-bit is considered cryptographically broken because it is feasible to factor a 512-bit RSA modulus with modern hardware, making it unsuitable for any PKI use.
AES is a symmetric block cipher and is architecturally incompatible with PKI's asymmetric key model; 512-bit is also not a defined AES key length.
Concept tested: RSA asymmetric algorithm usage in PKI
Source: https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-57-part-1/rev-5/final
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