You have recently been hired by a company to analyze its security mechanisms to determine any weaknesses in their current security mechanisms. During this analysis, you detect that an application is using a 3DES implementation that encrypts each block of data three times, each time with a different key. Which 3DES implementation does the application use?
a. 3DES-EDE3
b. 3DES-EEE3
c. 3DES-EDE2
d. 3DES-EEE2
Answer: B. Explanation: The 3DES-EEE3 implementation encrypts each block of data three times, each time with a different key. The 3DES-EDE3 implementation encrypts each block of data with the first key, decrypts each block with the second key, and encrypts each block with the third key. The 3DES-EEE2 implementation encrypts each block of data with the first key, encrypts each block with the second key, and then encrypts each block again with the first key. The 3DES-EDE2 implementation encrypts each block of data with the first key, decrypts each block with the second key, and then encrypts each block with the first key.