Cryptography & Network Security Unit 4 – Key Distribution, Authentication Applications and Email Security: AKTU previous year questions
12 AKTU questions from Unit 4 (Key Distribution, Authentication Applications and Email Security) asked in 2025–2026, tagged by marks, year and topic. In short: about 28 marks of every paper come from this unit; the most asked topic is Kerberos (10 times); 1 questions came back in a later year. The latest ones are listed below; on the page you can filter them by 2-mark or long questions, topic and repeats.
Unit 4 previous year questions
- What is Diffie–Hellman key exchange used for? (2 marks, 2026, Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange)
- Write role of TGS. (2 marks, 2026, Kerberos)
- Define Public Key Infrastructure (PKI (2 marks, 2026, Public Key Infrastructure)
- Compare Kerberos 4 and Kerberos 5. (7 marks, 2026, Kerberos)
- Explain symmetric key distribution methods and Diffie–Hellman key exchange. (7 marks, 2026, Symmetric Key Distribution)
- Explain Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm with example. (7 marks, 2026, Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange)
- Describe X.509 certificates and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). (7 marks, 2026, X.509 Certificates)
- Explain X.509 certificate. (7 marks, 2026, X.509 Certificates)
- Explain Kerberos authentication protocol and electronic mail security using PGP. (7 marks, 2026, Kerberos)
- Discuss Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). (2 marks, 2025, Public Key Infrastructure)
- List out some functions of PGP. (2 marks, 2025, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP))
- Explain the full-service Kerberos environment. Determine the principal differences between version 4 and version 5 of Kerberos. (10 marks, 2025, Kerberos)
Most asked Unit 4 topics
- Kerberos – asked 10 times
- X.509 Certificates – asked 8 times
- Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) – asked 8 times
Unit 4 question pattern
- 2-mark questions: 5 asked in 2025–2026
- 7-mark questions: 6 asked in 2025–2026
- 10-mark questions: 1 asked in 2025–2026
- About 28 marks from Unit 4 in every paper
- 1 questions were asked again in a later year
Unit 4 questions year by year
- 2026: 9 Unit 4 questions asked (48 marks across that year's papers)
- 2025: 3 Unit 4 questions asked (14 marks across that year's papers)