With the internet becoming more and more accessible to common people,

Question

With the internet becoming more and more accessible to common people, cyber thefts have become rampant lately. So, in an extreme move to curb cyber thefts, the cyber security commission has proposed that  as an act of goodwill   websites upgrade their site security standards from 128-bit encryption to 512-bit encryption, a standard that makes it practically impossible to commit any cyber theft. The proposal was well received and has been implemented by numerous most-visited sites such as Google and Bing that handle about 90% of daily internet traffic. However, analysts predict that the future situation still doesn’t look as optimistic for cyber security.

Which of the following statements, if true, provides the best support for the analysts’ prediction?

A) Since the 2010s, the wide-spread availability and ease of access to the internet has led to a quadrupling of the internet traffic.
B) Rarely does any cyber theft occur on most-visited sites such as Google and Bing as they educate their site visitors about how to protect themselves from cyber thefts on their respective sites.
C) Of the websites that haven’t given their approval to the proposal, majority are e-commerce websites that need their webpages to load faster and are okay with compromising on the security aspect of the site.
D) A move from 128-bit to 512-bit encryption requires a significant amount of monetary and human resource investment.
E) Without a considerable improvement in cyber security, online shoppers will be more and more at risk of being vulnerable to cyber frauds and thefts.

SJags · Answer

Hi there

Can someone help me understand why the answer cannot be C?

The passage talks about cyber thefts and if the analysts predict that the future still does not look good for cyber security, it would imply that some sort of threat still exists. B just talks about why the move would fail, not about why the threat still exists.

Thanks

rr10 · Answer

Hey  SJags ,

Option C talks about major E-commerce industries. But it doesn't tell us whether those websites has a huge user base.

The question asks to find one that supports the analysts' prediction and that's what option B talks about.
It mentions that cyber attacks mostly happen on sites other than Google and Bing, which also handle 90% of internet traffic.

so the future is not optimistic as the attacks mostly occurs from the other 10% of sites.

NischalP · Answer

IMO B

C proves that cybersecurity upgrade does not strengthen neither weaken
It has no effect.

saumyagupta1602 · Answer

please provide the points of elimination against each answer choice as part of official solution. Thank You

HASTOWINGMAT · Answer

Can you please provide the explanation for this CR?

ParikshitAgrawal · Answer

Understanding from the question stem: 
Websites willing to transitioning from 128-bit to 512-bit encryption would reduce cyber thefts. Many of the BIG websites have already incorporated this change. However, the analyst claims (through his prediction) that this still will not resolve the cyber theft concerns. 
 Note that here the argument is trying to curb the NUMBER OF CYBER THEFTS.

Let's move to answer choices.

A) IRRELEVANT. Only describing the quantum of internet traffic.

B) CORRECT. If most number of cyber thefts happen on other small websites, which have not yet incorporated 512-bit encryption, then the analyst's prediction stands. The number of incidences will still be more or less same.

C) OUT OF SCOPE. This is a tempting option. This option only provides a reason of  why  companies have not given their approval to the proposal. This doesn't explain  how  this will affect frequency the cyber theft incidences.

D) IRRELEVANT. Not a clear winner here. Firstly, significant is highly qualitative here as nowhere in argument is stated about whether small website have no or less money, whether the 'significant' amount of money required is not that significant for a company to not accept the proposal. THere has to be some additional information for this to be a clear winner.

E) IRRELEVANT. As only reword the argument stem to show that online sites are vulnerable.

Hope this helps !!

Regards,
Parikshit

Pritishd · Answer

Conclusion of the Argument  
1. 90% of the web traffic has been secured using 512-bit encryption
2. But the analysts are predicting that this still does not help solve the problem

Pre-thinking  
1. What if this 90% traffic never had any malware attacks to begin with? In that case securing this 90% traffic will not solve the problem
2. On the contrary, if we secure the remaining 10% traffic then it might solve 100% of the problem
3. We want an option that conveys the essence of the above two points

A) Since the 2010s, the wide-spread availability and ease of access to the internet has led to a quadrupling of the internet traffic -  Incorrect  
The passage says that 90% of the traffic has already been secured. In other words 90% of this quadrupled traffic has already been taken care off

B) Rarely does any cyber theft occur on most-visited sites such as Google and Bing as they educate their site visitors about how to protect themselves from cyber thefts on their respective sites -  Correct  
This is in line with our pre-thinking that the 90% traffic from Google and Bing has no malware attacks to start with and hence securing this traffic will have a very negligible impact
  Negate   - Majority of cyber theft occurs on Google and Bing i.e. 90% of traffic. If that is the case then securing 90% of the traffic must solve majority of the problem and this goes against the analysts' prediction that states that securing 90% of the traffic is not necessarily solving the problem

C) Of the websites that haven’t given their approval to the proposal, majority are e-commerce websites that need their webpages to load faster and are okay with compromising on the security aspect of the site -  Incorrect + Trap Option  
1. This option says that of the remaining 10% traffic, some traffic comes from e-com websites
2. But this option does not tell us whether this traffic is significant enough or not and more improtantly whether these websites are prone to malware attacks. Option B, on the contrary, clarifies that the 90% traffic is not prone to malware attacks
3. Websites okay to compromise is no evidence to say that these are hubs for malware attack or not

D) A move from 128-bit to 512-bit encryption requires a significant amount of monetary and human resource investment -  Incorrect  
This move has already been made for 90% of the traffic so we can safely assume that companies are equipped with the resources and funds required for this undertaking

E) Without a considerable improvement in cyber security, online shoppers will be more and more at risk of being vulnerable to cyber frauds and thefts -  Incorrect  
Passage mentions that 512-bit is impossible to break through and has been shielding 90% of traffic. This in itself means that a considerable improvement has already been made

Ans.  B

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