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CompTIA Tech+ 6.6 CompTIA Tech+ 6.2 CompTIA A+ Core 2 2.1
TechKnowSurge Catalog Interactives Which Encryption Fits?
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Which Encryption Fits?

A stolen laptop, one private file, a checkout page or the office network from home: pick the encryption that protects each.

⚑ Complete this interactive to capture a CTF flag worth 5 points.

About this interactive

Encryption turns readable plain text into cipher text that nobody can read without the key. Where you encrypt depends on where the data is. Data at rest is stored on a drive. Permissions alone do not protect it, because someone can take the drive to another computer and ignore them. BitLocker encrypts a whole volume, so everything on it is protected; newer Windows turns it on by default. When only one file needs protecting, Windows can encrypt just that file (Properties, Advanced, Encrypt contents), which leaves the rest of the disk as fast as before. Data in transit is crossing a network. HTTPS encrypts the traffic between your browser and a website, such as your bank or a store's checkout. A VPN encrypts all the traffic between your machine and your company's network, so working from home is like being on the office network, privately. Ask two questions: is the data stored or moving, and how much of it, or to where?

What you'll learn

Aligned to

CompTIA Tech+
6.6 Explain common uses of encryption.
6.2 Explain methods to secure devices and best practices.
CompTIA A+ Core 2
2.1 Summarize various security measures and their purposes.

Key terms

Encryption
The process of converting readable data into an unreadable format using an algorithm and key to prevent unauthorized access.
Data at Rest
Data that is stored on a device or medium and not actively moving through a network, which can be encrypted at the disk, partition, volume, file, or database level.
Data in Transit
Data that is actively moving across a network or communication channel between two endpoints, as opposed to data sitting on a storage device. Protocols such as TLS are commonly used to encrypt data in transit so it cannot be read if intercepted.
BitLocker
BitLocker is Microsoft Windows' built-in full-volume encryption feature that uses AES to protect data on drives, leveraging TPM hardware to bind encryption keys to a specific system configuration.
Encrypting File System
EFS
A Windows NTFS feature that provides file-level encryption by transparently encrypting data on disk using keys tied to the user's account, protecting files from unauthorized access if the drive is removed. EFS encryption is transparent to the authorized user but blocks other accounts from accessing the data.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
HTTPS
The encrypted version of HTTP that wraps web traffic in a TLS session, operating on TCP port 443, so that the data exchanged between a browser and a web server is confidential and cannot be read or modified by an eavesdropper. HTTPS is now the standard for all web traffic, indicated by the padlock icon in a browser.
Virtual Private Network
VPN
A technology that creates a secure, encrypted tunnel over a public network to protect data in transit.

Topics

Encryption Data At Rest Data In Transit Bitlocker Https Vpn Interactive Categorize

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