Question

Designed by NSA for the clipper chip, ___________ uses an 80-bit key to encrypt or decrypt 64-bit data blocks. It is an unbalanced Feistel network with 32 rounds. A) DES (Data Encryption Standard)

B) RC4 (Rivest Cipher 4)

C) Skipjack

D) IDEA (International Data Encryption Algorithm)

Answer 1

Skipjack, which is an encryption algorithm designed by the NSA using an 80-bit key and is an unbalanced Feistel network with 32 rounds.The correct answer to the question is C)

Step-by-step explanation:

Designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) for the Clipper Chip, Skipjack uses an 80-bit key to encrypt or decrypt 64-bit data blocks. It is known as an unbalanced Feistel network with 32 rounds, distinguishing it from the other algorithms listed as choices.

While DES (Data Encryption Standard) also encrypts 64-bit data blocks, it uses a 56-bit key and is a balanced Feistel cipher with 16 rounds. RC4 (Rivest Cipher 4) is a stream cipher and IDEA (International Data Encryption Algorithm) uses a 128-bit key.

Skipjack is a symmetric-key encryption algorithm designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) for use in the Clipper chip. It uses an 80-bit key to encrypt or decrypt 64-bit data blocks and is an unbalanced Feistel network with 32 rounds.

Skipjack is considered a secure and efficient encryption algorithm, although it is not widely used today due to the availability of more modern and widely adopted encryption standards such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard).Therefore, the correct answer is C) Skipjack.