Why HTTPS Traffic is Difficult to Monitor

D.

HTTPS traffic is encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols, making it difficult to monitor because the contents of the traffic are hidden from view. The correct answer is D. encryption.

Encryption is the process of converting plain text into cipher text that cannot be read without the decryption key. With HTTPS, the encryption is end-to-end, meaning that the data is encrypted on the client's device and decrypted on the server's side, so no third-party can read the data while it's in transit. This makes it difficult for security tools to inspect the contents of HTTPS traffic without decrypting it first.

SSL interception (Answer A) is a technique that allows security devices to inspect encrypted traffic by intercepting the SSL traffic, decrypting it, inspecting the contents, and then re-encrypting the traffic before sending it on its way. However, this requires that the security device have access to the SSL certificate and private key, which may not always be possible or practical, especially for traffic from popular websites or services.

Packet header size (Answer B) refers to the size of the metadata that is attached to each packet in a network communication. While HTTPS packets may have slightly larger headers than HTTP packets, this does not make HTTPS traffic particularly difficult to monitor.

Signature detection time (Answer C) refers to the time it takes for a security tool to detect a known threat based on a signature or pattern. While this can be a factor in detecting malicious traffic, it is not specific to HTTPS traffic.

In summary, the encryption of HTTPS traffic makes it difficult to monitor because the data is hidden from view, and intercepting SSL traffic can be challenging.