CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) Practice 2026 - Free CPSA Practice Questions and Study Guide

The protocol that specifically supports Internet security associations is ISAKMP (Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol). ISAKMP is integral to establishing, negotiating, managing, and transferring keys and security associations used in various security protocols, most notably in conjunction with IPsec. It functions as a framework for a key management protocol rather than defining actual encryption or authentication algorithms. By enabling secure communication and negotiating security parameters, ISAKMP plays a vital role in establishing secure channels over the Internet.

On the other hand, HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) are designed for data transmission and email communication but do not focus on security associations. They may employ security measures like TLS for secure transport, but they do not inherently provide a framework for managing security associations like ISAKMP does. Thus, ISAKMP is the clear choice for supporting Internet security associations.