You
are responsible for security at a defense contracting firm. You are evaluating various possible
encryption algorithms to use. One of the
algorithms you are examining is not integer based, uses shorter keys, and is public key based. What
type of algorithm is this?

A.
Symmetric

B.
None – all encryptions are integer based.

C.
Elliptic Curve

D.
RSA

Explanation:
Elliptic curves are described by the equation y2 = x3 + ax + b. They are used in
encryption to create public key encryption that uses a much
shorter key than integer based algorithms, and still obtains the same level of security.
Answer option B is incorrect. While integer based methods are the most common, they are not the
only encryption algorithms.
Answer option D is incorrect. RSA is integer based, it uses the product of two very large prime
numbers (i.e. integers).