Question
What factor is MOST important in determining how long it would take to "brute force" a key using pure guessing? (1 point)
whether it is symmetric
how many bits long it is
how long the stream is
whether it uses a block system
whether it is symmetric
how many bits long it is
how long the stream is
whether it uses a block system
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The factor that is MOST important in determining how long it would take to "brute force" a key using pure guessing is **how many bits long it is**.
The bit length of a key directly affects the total number of possible keys that an attacker would need to try in a brute-force attack. For example, a key that is 128 bits long has \(2^{128}\) possible combinations, which is astronomically large compared to shorter keys. Thus, the longer the key (in bits), the more time it would take to brute force it.
The bit length of a key directly affects the total number of possible keys that an attacker would need to try in a brute-force attack. For example, a key that is 128 bits long has \(2^{128}\) possible combinations, which is astronomically large compared to shorter keys. Thus, the longer the key (in bits), the more time it would take to brute force it.