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Basil was reading about a new attack that forces the system to abandon a higher cryptographic security mode of operation and instead fall back to an older and less secure mode. What type of attack is this?

a. Downgrade attack
b. Pullback attack
c. Deprecation attack
d. Obfuscation attack

1 Answer

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Final answer:

A downgrade attack is a security exploit that forces a system to use an older, less secure cryptographic protocol, making it easier for an attacker to compromise or breach the system.

Step-by-step explanation:

The type of attack you're asking about is known as a downgrade attack. This attack occurs when an adversary forces a system to abandon a more secure, updated cryptographic protocol in favor of an older, less secure version. The attacker exploits vulnerabilities in the legacy protocol to compromise security or breach the system.

For instance, a downgrade attack might force an HTTPS connection to use SSL 3.0 instead of TLS, allowing the attacker to exploit known flaws in the older protocol that may not exist in the more current version.

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