Which of the following are used to generate a message digest by the network security protocols? (P) RSA (Q) SHA-1 (R) DES (S) MD5

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Official answer: C) Q and S only

Principles of Layering

RSA is an asymmetric (public-key) cryptographic algorithm used for encryption and digital signatures, not a hash function.
SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) is a cryptographic hash function that produces a 160-bit message digest.
DES (Data Encryption Standard) is a symmetric-key block cipher used for data encryption, not a hash function.
MD5 (Message Digest Algorithm 5) is a widely used cryptographic hash function that produces a 128-bit message digest.

Thus, SHA-1 (Q) and MD5 (S) are used to generate message digests. Option (C) is correct.

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This Principles of Layering previous year question is Q24 of the GATE CSE 2014 Set 1 paper. Find more GATE CSE PYQs on Principles of Layering in Computer Networks, or browse all GATE CSE PYQs.

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Principles of Layering in GATE CSE

Principles of Layering has 12 GATE CSE PYQs across 10 papers from 2011 to 2025. 9 of them are 1-mark MCQs like this one, and it is the only one in GATE CSE 2014 Set 1.

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Independent practice explanation verified by the GateAI team. GATE is conducted by the IITs; question text follows the official paper.