You're a cybersecurity engineer at a mid-size social media start-up and it's a busy day at the office as your company prepares for the launch of its new mobile app. Hours before go-live, the marketing director runs over to your desk and grabs you in a panic. He explains that the marketing team needs to send sensitive customer data to an advertising partner in order to run social media ads for the new product launch. He says that he knows company policy is to encrypt any sensitive data we're sending to a thirdparty partner but wants your advice on best practices. 

 

1) Which symmetric encryption algorithm would you recommend he use? 

2) What is the minimum key size that he should use? 

3) He wants to use the key "53cur1ty!" for the encryption key. a. Is this a strong key to use? If not, what key would you recommend? 

4) What is a way for him to securely share the key with the advertising partner?