Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH v11) — Question 174

What is a `Collision attack` in cryptography?

Answer options

• A. Collision attacks try to get the public key
• B. Collision attacks try to break the hash into three parts to get the plaintext value
• C. Collision attacks try to break the hash into two parts, with the same bytes in each part to get the private key
• D. Collision attacks try to find two inputs producing the same hash

Correct answer: D

Explanation

The correct answer is D because a collision attack specifically targets the discovery of two different inputs that generate the same hash output, which undermines the integrity of the hashing algorithm. Options A, B, and C misinterpret the nature of collision attacks, as they focus on public keys, plaintext values, or private keys rather than the fundamental goal of finding hash collisions.