If no key is available, how will the SSL stream be displayed?

• A. A raw SSL stream will appear as a mix of random characters and numbers
• B. It will decode to readable text
• C. It will ignore SSL data and show only headers
• D. It will prompt for a key

Answer: (A)

When decryption isn’t possible, SSL/TLS data remains encrypted, so Wireshark can’t render the application contents as readable text. What you see is the raw, opaque stream of bytes—often shown as a mix of hex values and ASCII gibberish—rather than meaningful data. The TLS record headers may be visible, but the encrypted payload stays unreadable without the keys. The other options don’t fit because without the key you can’t decrypt to readable text, the data isn’t simply ignored and shown as headers, and Wireshark doesn’t suddenly prompt you for a key during analysis—the keys must be provided in advance (e.g., via a session key log or decryption setup).