Mark has been hired by a company to work as a Network Assistant. He is assigned the task to configure a dial-up connection. He is configuring a laptop. Which of the following protocols should he…

The correct answer is C. PAP. PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) must be disabled because it transmits passwords in cleartext - meaning anyone intercepting the dial-up connection can read the credentials directly. The other three options all use encryption or challenge-response mechanisms, so disabling…

Identity and Access Management (IAM) Architecture

Question

Mark has been hired by a company to work as a Network Assistant. He is assigned the task to configure a dial-up connection. He is configuring a laptop. Which of the following protocols should he disable to ensure that the password is encrypted during remote access?

Options

ASPAP
BMSCHAP
CPAP
DMSCHAP V2

How the community answered

(37 responses)

A
5% (2)
B
5% (2)
C
76% (28)
D
14% (5)

Explanation

PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) must be disabled because it transmits passwords in cleartext - meaning anyone intercepting the dial-up connection can read the credentials directly. The other three options all use encryption or challenge-response mechanisms, so disabling them would reduce security rather than improve it.

SPAP (Shiva PAP) is wrong because it does encrypt passwords, making it acceptable for secure remote access.
MSCHAP is wrong because it uses a challenge-response mechanism that never sends the actual password over the wire.
MSCHAP V2 is wrong because it is an improved encrypted protocol - disabling it would be counterproductive.

Memory tip: Think "PAP = Plain As Paper." If you see PAP in a question about encryption or security, it's almost always the weak link to disable or avoid, since it offers zero password protection.

Topics

#PAP protocol#Dial-up authentication#Password encryption#MSCHAP

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