Network Security
Mid-Sem Exam Sample Question Paper-2
The actual exam question paper may not have any resemblance. This question paper is only for practice.
1. Two 16-bits values are provided. One as decimal and its value is 65537. Another in hexadecimal and
its value is 0x1234. Perform Exclusive-OR between them and answer in the decimal (base-10)
system. Show all the details. Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be
accepted. [2.5 Marks]
2. A security engineer selects a Hill Cipher encryption key as shown below. Assuming case insensitive
English language without space or any other punctuation symbol, find out the determinant of the
decryption key. Show all the calculations and justify your answer. Direct answers or copy and paste
from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
3. A mono-alphabetic cipher is defined as: z = F [x, y, p], where p is the case insensitive English
plaintext alphabet, z is its corresponding ciphertext alphabet and x, y are two integers. The function F
is defined as F [x, y, p], = x.p.+.y. Two sets for encryption are selected as shown below. Space or
any other punctuation symbol is not counted in the ciphering. Do you see any issues? Justify your
answer. [2.5 Marks]
(i) x = 2, y = 3 and p = 'A'
(ii) x = 2, y = 3 and p = 'N'
4. The key for a simple transposition cipher is 3-5-1-2-4. If after one round the ciphertext is
RSHUEDINWEWELODSISNG, find out the plaintext. Plaintext is written row-wise and the
ciphertext is read column-wise. Show all the details. Direct answer will not get any marks. [2.5
Marks]
5. In RSA Public Key Cryptography, a large value of n is chosen such that it can be factored into two
prime numbers. The sum of these two prime numbers is 500 and difference is 414. If the public key
exponent is 571, find out the private key exponent. Show all the calculations. Direct answers or copy
and paste from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
6. Using the keyword SERGEANT and Playfair Cipher, encrypt the plaintext CAVALRY. The
alphabets I and J need to share the same matrix cell and alphabet X can be used as a pad. Assume
case insensitive English language without space or any other punctuation symbol. Show all the
details. Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
7. User A sends a message M to user B. User A utilizes Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) for protecting the
message from confidentiality and integrity attacks. A's public/private key pair is PU A/PRA, B's
public/private key pair is PUB/PRB and the session key shared between them is KS. Both of them can
use a strong hash function H( ) that takes the input message as parameter and calculates a hash code.
E( ) is an encryption function, which takes the first parameter as encryption key and the second
parameter as the data that is to be encrypted. Z( ) is the compression function to compress the input
parameter and + is the symbol used to concatenate two data elements. Using these notations (only),
form the expression of the protected message that will be received by the user B before any
decryption is performed by it. [2.5 Marks]
8. Austin and Brandon want to exchange a secret key using Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange (DHKE)
unaware of the presence of an attacker Cathy. The prime number is 19 and its selected primitive root
is 13. If the random numbers selected by Austin, Brandon and Cathy are 3, 4 and 5 respectively,
show with the complete details, how the system could be compromised. [2.5 Marks]
9. Given that m = 8, p = 29 and H0 = 0x6A. Using the pictorial algorithm below, calculate the hash code
for the input message WE. The ASCII values of the English alphabets are to be used for their numeric
equivalents and the message is to be processed from left to right. [2.5 Marks]
10. Apply Fermat’s Theorem (if applicable) and calculate the value of 67330 mod 109. Show all the steps
properly to secure marks. [2.5 Marks]
11. Verify the discrete log property dloga, p (x.y) ≡ [dloga, p (x) + dloga, p (y)] mod [ϕ (p)], where a = 14,
p = 19 and x.y = a. Note that x and y are to be prime factors. [2.5 Marks]
12. Out of 13 and 14, which integer will have primitive roots? Find out the primitive roots where it is
possible with proper details and reasoning. [2.5 Marks]
