Q1

By applying a backward shift of 7 letters to the cipher text "MWA-PH: Kv fvb

ilsplcl pu yhukvtulzz?", the decrypted text is revealed as "FPT-IA: Do you believe
in randomness?". This decryption aligns with the pattern of the provided partial
plain text "F**_**: ** *** ******* ** **********?", confirming that the shift used
in the cipher was indeed 7.
The process involved analyzing the given patterns, identifying the shift based on
the transformation of known letters, and then applying the inverse of that shift to
the entire cipher text. The result, "Do you believe in randomness?", suggests a
question possibly related to the concept of randomness in some context, which was
encrypted using the Caesar cipher technique. This method of decryption is
straightforward for the Caesar cipher, as it relies on a fixed shift of letters in
the alphabet, making it one of the simplest forms of cryptography.
Q2
One important difference between symmetric and public key systems is that in
symmetric key systems both the sender and receiver must know the same (secret)
key.In public key systems, the encryption and decryption keys are distinct.The
encryption key is known by the entire world (including the sender), but the
decryption key is known only by the receiver.
Q3.1
In a public key infrastructure (PKI) setup, each user has a pair of keys: a public
key (PA, PB) which is publicly known and can be shared with anyone, and a private
key (SA, SB) which is kept secret and not shared. When Alice wants to authenticate
her message to Bob, she should use her private key (SA) to encrypt the message.
This process is known as signing. Bob can then use Alice's public key (PA) to
decrypt the message. If the message successfully decrypts with Alice's public key,
it confirms that the message was encrypted with Alice's private key, thus
authenticating her identity.

This method ensures that the message came from Alice because only Alice has access
to her private key. Anyone with access to Alice's public key (which is everyone,
since it's public) can verify that the message was indeed encrypted (signed) using
Alice's private key. If Alice used her public key or Bob's public or private keys,
the message would either not be securely transmitted or would not serve as proof of
Alice's identity to Bob.
Q3.2
When a CA issues a certificate to a website, the purpose of the certificate is to
provide a trusted link between the website and the users who visit it. The
certificate contains the public key of the website (in this case, Amazon.com's
public key) so that visitors (like Alice in the browser) can establish a secure,
encrypted connection using that public key.

The process works as follows:

Amazon sends a certificate signing request (CSR) to the CA. The CSR includes
Amazon's public key and some additional information that identifies the website
(like domain name, company name, etc.).

The CA verifies the identity of Amazon.com and the ownership of the domain.

Once verified, the CA signs the certificate using its own private key (SCA). This
signature allows end-users to verify that the certificate is indeed issued by a
trusted CA.

The signed certificate, now containing Amazon.com's public key and the CA's
signature, is sent back to Amazon.com.

Amazon.com installs the certificate on its server.

When Alice (or any user) visits Amazon.com, her browser requests the certificate.
The browser then uses the CA's public key (PCA), which is already known and trusted
by the browser, to verify the signature on the certificate. If the signature is
valid, it confirms that the certificate is trustworthy and the public key it
contains (Amazon.com's public key) can be used to initiate a secure session. This
public key is then used by Alice's browser to encrypt data that is sent to
Amazon.com, ensuring that sensitive information like passwords or credit card
details are secure.

The certificate does not contain Amazon's private key (SM) because that remains
secret and is never shared. Only the public key, which is meant to be distributed
to users, is included in the certificate.