Which of the following attacks can be overcome by applying cryptography?

Question

Options

• AWeb ripping
• BDoS
• CSniffing
• DBuffer overflow

• A
  10% (4)
• B
  18% (7)
• C
  69% (27)
• D
  3% (1)

Explanation

Sniffing (C) is defeated by cryptography because encryption renders intercepted data unreadable to an eavesdropper - even if an attacker captures packets on the wire, they see only ciphertext without the decryption key. Web ripping (A) is a content-copying attack that targets publicly accessible pages; since the content is intentionally served, encryption doesn't prevent copying it. DoS (B) overwhelms a service with traffic or resource exhaustion - cryptography can't stop a flood of legitimate-looking requests, as even encrypted connections can be used to conduct DoS. Buffer overflow (D) exploits poor memory management in code; this is a software vulnerability fixed through secure coding practices and input validation, not encryption.

Memory tip: Think "C for Confidentiality" - cryptography's core purpose is keeping data confidential in transit, which maps directly to sniffing (passive interception). The other attacks are about availability (DoS), access (web ripping), or code safety (buffer overflow) - none of which encryption addresses.

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