Book Image

CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 Certification Guide

By : Mark Birch
Book Image

CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 Certification Guide

By: Mark Birch

Overview of this book

CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) ensures that security practitioners stay on top of the ever-changing security landscape. The CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 Certification Guide offers complete, up-to-date coverage of the CompTIA CAS-004 exam so you can take it with confidence, fully equipped to pass on the first attempt. Written in a clear, succinct way with self-assessment questions, exam tips, and mock exams with detailed explanations, this book covers security architecture, security operations, security engineering, cryptography, governance, risk, and compliance. You'll begin by developing the skills to architect, engineer, integrate, and implement secure solutions across complex environments to support a resilient enterprise. Moving on, you'll discover how to monitor and detect security incidents, implement incident response, and use automation to proactively support ongoing security operations. The book also shows you how to apply security practices in the cloud, on-premises, to endpoints, and to mobile infrastructure. Finally, you'll understand the impact of governance, risk, and compliance requirements throughout the enterprise. By the end of this CASP study guide, you'll have covered everything you need to pass the CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 certification exam and have a handy reference guide.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
1
Section 1: Security Architecture
6
Section 2: Security Operations
11
Section 3: Security Engineering and Cryptography
16
Section 4: Governance, Risk, and Compliance

Understanding symmetric encryption algorithms

Symmetric encryption provides confidentiality by provisioning bulk encryption. It is highly efficient at encrypting data at rest and data in transit. Due to the relatively small key sizes that are used, it is very fast (in comparison to asymmetric encryption). Symmetric encryption uses a single key to encrypt (or lock) the data and the same key is used to decrypt (unlock) the data.

Symmetric algorithms are divided into two main categories: block and stream ciphers.

Block ciphers

These ciphers are used to encrypt data in blocks, typically 64 or 128 bits. They offer the most robust security but lack the outright speed that's offered by stream ciphers. The following are some examples of block ciphers:

  • Triple Digital Encryption Standard (3DES): 3DES replaced the original Data Encryption Standard (DES), which was designed and adopted in the 1970s. DES offered a key size of only 64 bits (56 bits for the key itself). In...