CompTIA Security+ (SY0-501) — Question 210

Which of the following is the BEST reason for salting a password hash before it is stored in a database?

Answer options

• A. To prevent duplicate values from being stored
• B. To make the password retrieval process very slow
• C. To protect passwords from being saved in readable format
• D. To prevent users from using simple passwords for their access credentials

Correct answer: A

Explanation

The correct answer is A, as salting helps to ensure that even if two users have the same password, their hashed values will differ due to unique salts. The other options do not accurately reflect the main purpose of salting, which is primarily to enhance security by preventing hash collisions rather than affecting retrieval speed or password complexity.