Which practice would best defend against sniffing by encrypting communications end-to-end?

Which practice would best defend against sniffing by encrypting communications end-to-end?

• A. VPN
• B. Firewalls
• C. Encryption Protocols
• D. Intrusion Prevention Systems

Answer: (C)

Sniffing is about intercepting network traffic to read what’s inside. End-to-end encryption protects you best here because it keeps the data encrypted from the moment it leaves the sender until it reaches the intended recipient. Encryption protocols (like TLS, SSH, or PGP) establish shared keys between the two endpoints and then encrypt the payload so that only the recipient with the correct key can decrypt and read it. Even if an attacker captures the packets on the network, the contents remain unread. A VPN also encrypts data, but it creates a tunnel between you and the VPN server. The data can be decrypted at the VPN endpoint and re-encrypted toward the final destination, so it isn’t necessarily end-to-end encryption in the strict sense. Firewalls and intrusion prevention systems don’t encrypt traffic at all; they focus on filtering or detecting threats, not protecting the confidentiality of the payload. So, encryption protocols provide true end-to-end confidentiality, making them the best defense against sniffing.

Sniffing is about intercepting network traffic to read what’s inside. End-to-end encryption protects you best here because it keeps the data encrypted from the moment it leaves the sender until it reaches the intended recipient. Encryption protocols (like TLS, SSH, or PGP) establish shared keys between the two endpoints and then encrypt the payload so that only the recipient with the correct key can decrypt and read it. Even if an attacker captures the packets on the network, the contents remain unread.

A VPN also encrypts data, but it creates a tunnel between you and the VPN server. The data can be decrypted at the VPN endpoint and re-encrypted toward the final destination, so it isn’t necessarily end-to-end encryption in the strict sense. Firewalls and intrusion prevention systems don’t encrypt traffic at all; they focus on filtering or detecting threats, not protecting the confidentiality of the payload.

So, encryption protocols provide true end-to-end confidentiality, making them the best defense against sniffing.