Final answer:
The 3rd step of the site-to-site IPSec encryption process is a) encapsulation, which occurs after the session key is used for encryption and before the secure transmission of the data.
Step-by-step explanation:
The 3rd step of the site-to-site IPSec encryption process is typically the encapsulation of the packet. During the IPSec process, encapsulation happens after the packet has been encrypted with a session key but before it is sent across the network to the intended recipient.
To elaborate, within a typical IPSec implementation, the process follows these general steps:
- Agreement on the encryption and authentication algorithms to be used.
- Creation and exchange of session keys.
- Encapsulation of the encrypted data in an IPSec packet.
- Secure transmission of the encapsulated data to the recipient.
- The recipient decrypts the encapsulated data.
This makes encapsulation the correct option for the 3rd step (option a).
The encapsulation referred to here is part of creating an IPSec packet, which wraps the encrypted data in an additional header that contains information for handling the secure transmission across the network.