Read the excerpt from The Code Book . However, the success of the Information Age depends on the ability to protect information as it flows around the world, and this relies on the power of cryptography. Encryption can be seen as providing the locks and keys of the Information Age. For two thousand years encryption has been of importance only to governments and the military, but today it also has a role to play in facilitating business, and tomorrow ordinary people will rely on cryptography in order to protect their privacy. Fortunately, just as the Information Age is taking off, we have access to extraordinarily strong encryption. The development of public key cryptography, particularly the RSA cipher, has given today's cryptographers a clear advantage in their continual power struggle against cryptanalysts, and RSA encryption is therefore effectively unbreakable. Most important of all, public key cryptography is not weakened by any key distribution problems. In short, RSA guarantees almost unbreakable locks for our most precious pieces of information. To improve understanding of the excerpt, which questions are best to ask? Choose three correct answers.
Answer
A
What does “encryption” mean?
B
What kind of encryption was available a long time ago?
C
What are “cryptanalysts”?
D
What is “public key cryptography”?
E
Where can I buy an RSA cipher?
Explanation
The excerpt’s main ideas depend on understanding the technical terms “cryptanalysts,” “encryption,” and “public key cryptography.” Asking what each term means would clarify how RSA protects information and how cryptographers work against attempts to break codes. Asking where to buy an RSA cipher is not relevant to understanding the passage, and the question about old encryption is less central than defining these key terms.
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