What types of encryption are used in the TLS protocol to ensure secure communication between a client and server?

• A. It uses only symmetric encryption.
• B. It uses hashing instead of encryption.
• C. It starts with public key encryption and then uses symmetric encryption.
• D. It uses only public key encryption.

Answer: (C)

TLS uses a hybrid approach: it uses public-key cryptography to establish a secure session, then switches to symmetric encryption for the actual data transfer. During the handshake, the client and server verify each other (the server certificate helps prove identity), and a shared secret is created in a way that only the intended parties can compute it. Once that secret is established, both sides derive symmetric keys and use fast symmetric ciphers (like AES-GCM or ChaCha20-Poly1305) to encrypt the traffic and ensure integrity. This combination lets TLS securely establish the connection with public-key methods while efficiently encrypting large amounts of data with symmetric encryption.