CompTIA Cloud+ Practice Test

Which encryption protocol is widely accepted for encrypting data at rest in the cloud and complies with industry best practices?

1. 3DES

2. RSA

3. AES-256

4. Rivest Cipher 5

The correct answer is: AES-256

The widely accepted encryption protocol for encrypting data at rest in the cloud and complying with industry best practices is AES-256. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric key encryption standard that has been extensively reviewed and is recognized by various international standards organizations. AES-256, in particular, uses a 256-bit key size, which provides a high level of security against brute force attacks, making it suitable for protecting sensitive data. The relevance of AES-256 in cloud environments is significant, as it meets the stringent security requirements necessary for protecting data from unauthorized access and complies with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA. Its efficiency in both software and hardware implementations further contributes to its adoption in modern cryptographic applications. Other encryption methods, while still in use, do not offer the same level of security or have become outdated. For example, 3DES, although it has historically been used, is considered less secure than AES due to its smaller key space and vulnerabilities that have been discovered over time. RSA, primarily used for secure data transmission rather than data at rest, relies on asymmetric encryption, which adds complexity and performance overhead not required for data storage scenarios. Rivest Cipher 5 (RC5) was designed for fast encryption and is simpler, yet it