The authenticated data structure called $$the Merkle tree$$ is an important concept in

cloud computing security. Using a dataset of $8$ blocks, do the following.

a$.[6$pts$]$ Explain $($including an illustration$)$ how the Merkle Hash Tree works by

populating the blocks, block $1$ through block $8,$ and showing how to calculate all the

hashes up to the tree root.

b$.[4$pts$]$ Explain how a user can authenticate block $5$ in this tree.