nerdexam
EC-Council

312-50V10 · Question #803

What is the main security service a cryptographic hash provide?

The correct answer is D. Integrity and computational in-feasibility. The primary security services of a cryptographic hash function are data integrity verification and computational infeasibility, meaning it is practically impossible to reverse the hash or forge a matching input.

Cryptography

Question

What is the main security service a cryptographic hash provide?

Options

  • AIntegrity and ease of computation
  • BMessage authentication and collision resistance
  • CIntegrity and collision resistance
  • DIntegrity and computational in-feasibility

How the community answered

(54 responses)
  • A
    7% (4)
  • B
    2% (1)
  • C
    2% (1)
  • D
    89% (48)

Why each option

The primary security services of a cryptographic hash function are data integrity verification and computational infeasibility, meaning it is practically impossible to reverse the hash or forge a matching input.

AIntegrity and ease of computation

Ease of computation is a performance design goal of hash functions, not a security service - it describes efficiency, not a protection mechanism.

BMessage authentication and collision resistance

Message authentication requires a shared secret key (as provided by HMAC), which a plain cryptographic hash does not include; listing collision resistance alone also omits the broader pre-image resistance that defines computational infeasibility.

CIntegrity and collision resistance

Collision resistance is one specific component of the broader computational infeasibility property, making option D a more complete and accurate description of the full security guarantee a hash function provides.

DIntegrity and computational in-feasibilityCorrect

Cryptographic hash functions provide integrity by producing a fixed-length digest that detectably changes if the underlying data is altered in any way. Computational infeasibility - encompassing pre-image resistance (inability to derive input from output) and the practical impossibility of finding collisions - is the foundational security guarantee that makes hash-based integrity checks trustworthy and unforgeably binding to the original data.

Concept tested: Cryptographic hash function integrity and infeasibility properties

Source: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/FIPS/NIST.FIPS.180-4.pdf

Topics

#cryptographic hash#integrity#collision resistance#computational infeasibility

Community Discussion

No community discussion yet for this question.

Full 312-50V10 Practice