A computer science student needs to fill some information into a secured Adobe PDF job application that was received from a prospective employer. Instead of requesting a new document that allowed the forms to be completed, the student decides to write a script that pulls passwords from a list of commonly used passwords to try against the secured PDF until the correct password is found or the list is exhausted. Which cryptography attack is the student attempting?

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C. Dictionary attack A dictionary attack involves attempting to guess a password by systematically trying every word or phrase from a pre-compiled list (a 'dictionary') of common or known passwords, which precisely matches the student's method of pulling passwords from a list.

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A. Man-in-the-middle attack A Man-in-the-middle attack involves an attacker intercepting and potentially altering communications between two parties without their knowledge.

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B. Brute-force attack A brute-force attack attempts every possible character combination until the correct password is found; while a dictionary attack is a form of brute-force, it is more specific in using a pre-defined list rather than exhaustive combination generation.

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D. Session hijacking Session hijacking involves an attacker taking over an active authenticated session between two parties.

A computer science student needs to fill some information into a secured Adobe PDF job application that was received from a prospective employer. Instead of requesting a new document that allowed…

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