You're reading from Cisco Certified CyberOps Associate 200-201 Certification Guide Learn blue teaming strategies and incident response techniques to mitigate cybersecurity incidents

Product type Paperback

Published in Jun 2021

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781800560871

Length 660 pages

Edition 1st Edition

Tools

Cisco

Concepts

Cybersecurity

Author (1):

Glen D. Singh

View More author details

Table of Contents (25) Chapters

Preface

1. Section 1: Network and Security Concepts

2. Chapter 1: Exploring Networking Concepts FREE CHAPTER

3. Chapter 2: Exploring Network Components and Security Systems

4. Chapter 3: Discovering Security Concepts

5. Section 2: Principles of Security Monitoring

6. Chapter 4: Understanding Security Principles

7. Chapter 5: Identifying Attack Methods

8. Chapter 6: Working with Cryptography and PKI

9. Section 3: Host and Network-Based Analysis

10. Chapter 7: Delving into Endpoint Threat Analysis

11. Chapter 8: Interpreting Endpoint Security

12. Chapter 9: Exploring Computer Forensics

13. Chapter 10: Performing Intrusion Analysis

14. Section 4: Security Policies and Procedures

15. Chapter 11: Security Management Techniques

16. Chapter 12: Dealing with Incident Response

17. Chapter 13: Implementing Incident Handling

18. Chapter 14: Implementing Cisco Security Solutions

19. Chapter 15: Working with Cisco Security Solutions

20. Chapter 16: Real-World Implementation and Best Practices

21. Chapter 17: Mock Exam 1

22. Chapter 18: Mock Exam 2

23. Assessment

24. Other Books You May Enjoy

Exploring symmetric encryption algorithms

There are two types of encryption algorithms that are used to encrypt data. These are symmetric and asymmetric algorithms. In this section, we will take a deep dive into exploring the functions and operations of symmetric encryption algorithms.

To encrypt a plaintext message, both a cipher and a key are required. In symmetric encryption, a key is used to encrypt the plaintext message into ciphertext and the same key is used to decrypt the ciphertext back to plaintext.

While symmetric encryption algorithms are commonly used in many systems, the major downside is that if the secret key is lost or stolen, the ciphertext is susceptible to compromise. If an attacker is able to retrieve the key, the threat actor will be able to decipher the message and view the contents. Therefore, it's extremely important that the key is kept safe at all times.

Symmetric algorithms use key lengths that range from 40 bits to 256 bits. These key lengths...