PKCS Standards (*yawn*)

ehnde

I have this list of PKCS standards in the CCNA Security OCG that feels like the author just arbitrarily threw into the book without the appropriate context to assist the reader in comprehension/retention.

Standard Number Description
PKCS #1 RSA Cryptography Standard
PKCS #3 DH Key Agreement Standard
PKCS #5 Password-Based Cryptography Standard
PKCS #6 Extended-Certificate Syntax Standard
PKCS #7 Cryptographic Message Syntax Standard
PKCS #8 Private Key Information Syntax Standard
PKCS #10 Certification Request Syntax Standard
PKCS #12 Personal Information Exchange Syntax Standard
PKCS #13 Elliptic Curve Cryptography Standard
PKCS #15 Cryptographic Token Information Format Standard

How relevant is this information as far as the exam is concerned? Do I need to do more research on this topic? Is it really significant? I might seek out some CBTs that give this material a more personalized/subjective introduction.

lrb

Well you already learn about PKCS#1 as part of your studies because you know that the RSA modulus is defined as n = p*q, where p and q are really big prime numbers. PKCS#1 defines that n must be calculated this way. It also defines the acceptable padding scheme used to pad the original message.

You also learn about certificates in the X.509 format. This format, including all the required fields and how to store the public key in it, are defined under PKCS#12.

I'd say you wouldn't need to know much more than that for the exam. Just know that they are standards related to public key crypto. E.g. When Elliptic Curve crypto came out, a new PKCS was defined to standardise it.