Explain the difference between symmetric and public-key cryptography, and what their importance is to encryption technology?

How to Answer
1st Answer Example
2nd Answer Example

This is a pretty basic question that most IT managers ask candidates when it comes to cryptology. If you have any level of expertise with encryption, you should be able to answer this question without too much difficulty.

The reason a hiring manager will ask this question is to get one or two easy questions out of the way, then proceed to more difficult questions. Keep in mind that some managers tend to drill down into this question pretty deep so if you get asked, be prepared to answer with a detailed response.

The basics here are going to be that symmetric uses a single key, and a public key uses two keys. Let's suppose that you took a document and placed it in a drawer, then locked it with a key. If anyone else wanted to access that document, they would need a key for that drawer. This is how Symmetric key encryption works. A public key, on the other hand, would require two keys to open up a drawer.

"As a cryptology professional, it's important to know the differences between symmetric and public-key encryption. I have used both, and know that each has its own unique values. Symmetric key encryption generally speaking is fast and secure. If you're sending encrypted packets to be decrypted, they must use a key which means you must send along a key to enable them to have access. A risky problem that might come up is if you're sending a physical medium, then the packet becomes insecure. Another risk might be is if someone is monitoring the network, they could steal the encrypted packets and key and decrypt them."

"In my honest and humble opinion, public key encryption has equal importance to symmetric key. Actually, it's more secure because it has two keys, and work together to encrypt and decrypt packets. I like this one because of the extra security measure built into it. Because the private key is never sent across the network, it remains secure which gives it an extra measure of encryption. The only down side that I see is it tends to be quite slow, which makes it difficult to send larger amounts of data using a public key encryption."

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How to Answer: Explain the difference between symmetric and public-key cryptography, and what their importance is to encryption technology?

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Tanium job interview.

17. Explain the difference between symmetric and public-key cryptography, and what their importance is to encryption technology?

How to Answer

This is a pretty basic question that most IT managers ask candidates when it comes to cryptology. If you have any level of expertise with encryption, you should be able to answer this question without too much difficulty.

The reason a hiring manager will ask this question is to get one or two easy questions out of the way, then proceed to more difficult questions. Keep in mind that some managers tend to drill down into this question pretty deep so if you get asked, be prepared to answer with a detailed response.

The basics here are going to be that symmetric uses a single key, and a public key uses two keys. Let's suppose that you took a document and placed it in a drawer, then locked it with a key. If anyone else wanted to access that document, they would need a key for that drawer. This is how Symmetric key encryption works. A public key, on the other hand, would require two keys to open up a drawer.

1st Answer Example

"As a cryptology professional, it's important to know the differences between symmetric and public-key encryption. I have used both, and know that each has its own unique values. Symmetric key encryption generally speaking is fast and secure. If you're sending encrypted packets to be decrypted, they must use a key which means you must send along a key to enable them to have access. A risky problem that might come up is if you're sending a physical medium, then the packet becomes insecure. Another risk might be is if someone is monitoring the network, they could steal the encrypted packets and key and decrypt them."

2nd Answer Example

"In my honest and humble opinion, public key encryption has equal importance to symmetric key. Actually, it's more secure because it has two keys, and work together to encrypt and decrypt packets. I like this one because of the extra security measure built into it. Because the private key is never sent across the network, it remains secure which gives it an extra measure of encryption. The only down side that I see is it tends to be quite slow, which makes it difficult to send larger amounts of data using a public key encryption."

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