Question

A security engineer downloads a Cisco IOS image from the vendor and wants to confirm the file was not altered or corrupted during transfer. The vendor publishes a SHA-512 value alongside the download link. Which cryptographic function is the engineer using, and what property does it provide in this scenario?

Accepted Answer

Hashing, which provides integrity verification by producing a fixed-length digest that changes if the file is modified

Answer

Symmetric encryption, which provides confidentiality so only authorized parties can read the image

Answer

Asymmetric encryption, which provides non-repudiation by signing the image with a private key

Answer

A preshared key exchange, which provides authentication of the download server