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Difficulty: MediumCryptographic Concepts and Algorithms

A lead security architect is designing an automated archival service for high-throughput system audit logs stored at rest. The security policy mandates strong bulk data confidentiality and authenticated integrity while minimizing computational latency for multi-gigabyte log archives. Which of the following cryptographic mechanisms best fulfills these requirements?

  1. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) operating in Galois/Counter Mode (GCM)Answer
  2. B
    Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) asymmetric encryption using a 4096-bit key pair
  3. C
    Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit (SHA-256) with a unique initialization vector
  4. D
    Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDHE) key agreement protocol

Answer

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) operating in Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) is the correct choice because symmetric ciphers deliver high-speed bulk data encryption, and GCM mode provides authenticated encryption for confidentiality and integrity.
AES in Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) is a symmetric cipher providing authenticated encryption (AEAD). It delivers high-speed confidentiality for large file volumes along with built-in integrity checking.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core operational security requirements.
The requirement specifies bulk data encryption at rest requiring confidentiality, high throughput (low latency), and authenticated integrity.
Bulk storage encryption requires symmetric algorithms because asymmetric algorithms are too slow for large files.
2
Evaluate symmetric cipher modes against asymmetric and hashing primitives.
AES is a symmetric block cipher capable of high-performance bulk processing. Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) adds authenticated encryption (AEAD) to verify data integrity alongside confidentiality.
AES-GCM satisfies both confidentiality and integrity requirements with hardware acceleration on modern processors.

Key Concept

Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Encryption and Authenticated Cipher Modes
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Cryptographic Concepts and Algorithms

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