ISC2 CISSP Practice Question

The researcher has both the ciphertext (encrypted data) and its corresponding plaintext (unencrypted data), which enables a known plaintext attack. In this type of cryptanalytic attack, the analyst uses pairs of plaintext and their corresponding ciphertext to identify patterns or weaknesses in the encryption algorithm or to potentially recover the encryption key. This differs from a ciphertext-only attack where only encrypted data is available, or a chosen plaintext attack where the attacker can select specific plaintext to be encrypted. Having access to both the original data and its encrypted form provides valuable information that can be used to analyze the encryption algorithm's behavior across multiple inputs and outputs, potentially revealing vulnerabilities in the algorithm's design or implementation.