Cryptography & Network Security (CNS) important questions and topics for AKTU
These are ranked by how often AKTU repeats them across 10 papers. Repeated questions and "very likely" topics are the safest marks in the exam.
Most repeated Cryptography & Network Security questions
- Discuss Shannon’s theory of confusion and diffusion. Explain. (7 marks, 2026, Shannon Confusion and Diffusion) – also asked in 2019, 2021, 2023
- Explain Hash Function? Discuss SHA- 512 with all required steps, round function & block diagram. (7 marks, 2026, Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)) – also asked in 2018, 2023, 2024
- Discuss the Message Authentication Codes. Also give the use of Authentication requirements in MAC. (7 marks, 2026, Message Authentication Codes) – also asked in 2019, 2022, 2024
- Illustrate the idea of Digital Signature for authentication. Discuss signing & verifying process of Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) in detail with suitable steps. (10 marks, 2025, Digital Signatures) – also asked in 2018, 2023, 2024
- Explain Digital Signature. Discuss signing & verifying process of Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) in detail with suitable steps. (10 marks, 2024, Digital Signatures) – also asked in 2018, 2023, 2025
High-probability Cryptography & Network Security topics
- IP Security (Unit 5: IP Security, Secure Transactions and System Security) – asked 11 times in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
- Classical Encryption Techniques (Unit 1: Security Foundations, Classical Encryption and Modern Block Ciphers) – asked 10 times in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026
- Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) (Unit 3: Message Authentication, Hash Functions and Digital Signatures) – asked 10 times in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026