The correct answer is to add a unique salt to each password before hashing it. This defeats precomputed attacks like rainbow tables because a salt—a random, unique value appended to each password before hashing—ensures that even identical plaintext passwords produce completely different hash outputs. An attacker would need to generate a separate rainbow table for every possible salt value, which is computationally infeasible and renders precomputed lookup tables useless. On the Security+ SY0-701 exam, this concept tests your understanding of cryptographic defenses against offline password cracking; a common trap is confusing salting with encryption or assuming a single static salt is sufficient. Remember that the key is uniqueness per password, not just adding any extra data. A helpful memory tip: “Salt makes each hash unique, so identical passwords don’t look the same.”
SY0-701 General Security Concepts Practice Question
This SY0-701 practice question tests your understanding of general security concepts. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Exhibit
Password audit snapshot:
User Stored value
alice 5baa61e4c9b93f3f0682250b6cf8331b
bob 5baa61e4c9b93f3f0682250b6cf8331b
carol 2bb80d537b1da3e38bd30361aa855686
Audit note:
Two accounts have the same stored value, and the security team wants to reduce the value of rainbow-table attacks if the database is stolen.
Based on the exhibit, what change would best protect the password database against precomputed attacks and make identical passwords less obvious?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Password audit snapshot:
User Stored value
alice 5baa61e4c9b93f3f0682250b6cf8331b
bob 5baa61e4c9b93f3f0682250b6cf8331b
carol 2bb80d537b1da3e38bd30361aa855686
Audit note:
Two accounts have the same stored value, and the security team wants to reduce the value of rainbow-table attacks if the database is stolen.
A
Encrypt each password with the same server key before storing it in the database.
Why wrong: Encryption keeps data confidential, but password storage usually needs one-way verification rather than reversible recovery. If the same key is reused, identical passwords can still produce predictable results, and an attacker who steals the key can decrypt everything. The problem in the exhibit is about resisting precomputed attacks, which is a hashing problem, not a reversible encryption problem.
B
Add a unique salt to each password before hashing it.
Salting is the best fix because it adds unique random data to each password before hashing, so identical passwords no longer produce the same stored value. That defeats rainbow tables and makes precomputed attacks far less useful. It also means attackers cannot easily compare two users' hashes to confirm they chose the same password, which improves both security and privacy.
C
Use a digital signature on each password record so the database can verify authenticity.
Why wrong: Digital signatures prove integrity and authenticity of data from a signer, but they are not a password-storage method. They do not hide the password value or prevent rainbow-table attacks. The exhibit is about protecting stored password verifiers against theft and precomputation, so signing the record would not solve the underlying authentication risk.
D
Store the password hashes in uppercase so attackers cannot compare them easily.
Why wrong: Changing the character case of the hash output does not add security; it only changes how the same value is displayed. Attackers can normalize the text immediately and still compare or crack the hashes. The weakness in the exhibit is the lack of unique per-user randomness, not formatting. Salting changes the actual cryptographic input, which uppercase text does not.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Add a unique salt to each password before hashing it.
Adding a unique salt to each password before hashing ensures that even if two users have the same password, their hashes will differ. This defeats precomputed attacks like rainbow tables because the attacker would need to compute a separate table for each salt value, which is computationally infeasible. Salting is a standard defense recommended by NIST SP 800-63B and implemented in modern systems like bcrypt, scrypt, and PBKDF2.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Encrypt each password with the same server key before storing it in the database.
Why it's wrong here
Encryption keeps data confidential, but password storage usually needs one-way verification rather than reversible recovery. If the same key is reused, identical passwords can still produce predictable results, and an attacker who steals the key can decrypt everything. The problem in the exhibit is about resisting precomputed attacks, which is a hashing problem, not a reversible encryption problem.
✓
Add a unique salt to each password before hashing it.
Why this is correct
Salting is the best fix because it adds unique random data to each password before hashing, so identical passwords no longer produce the same stored value. That defeats rainbow tables and makes precomputed attacks far less useful. It also means attackers cannot easily compare two users' hashes to confirm they chose the same password, which improves both security and privacy.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use a digital signature on each password record so the database can verify authenticity.
Why it's wrong here
Digital signatures prove integrity and authenticity of data from a signer, but they are not a password-storage method. They do not hide the password value or prevent rainbow-table attacks. The exhibit is about protecting stored password verifiers against theft and precomputation, so signing the record would not solve the underlying authentication risk.
✗
Store the password hashes in uppercase so attackers cannot compare them easily.
Why it's wrong here
Changing the character case of the hash output does not add security; it only changes how the same value is displayed. Attackers can normalize the text immediately and still compare or crack the hashes. The weakness in the exhibit is the lack of unique per-user randomness, not formatting. Salting changes the actual cryptographic input, which uppercase text does not.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse encryption with hashing or think that obfuscation techniques like case changes provide security, when in fact only salting with a unique random value prevents precomputed attacks and hides password equality.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
Changing the character case of the hash output does not add security; it only changes how the same value is displayed. Attackers can normalize the text immediately and still compare or crack the hashes. The weakness in the exhibit is the lack of unique per-user randomness, not formatting. Salting changes the actual cryptographic input, which uppercase text does not.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
A salt is a cryptographically random value, typically 16–32 bytes, concatenated with the password before hashing. The salt is stored in plaintext alongside the hash, so the verification process can repeat the same operation. In practice, bcrypt embeds the salt directly into the output string, and PBKDF2 uses a configurable iteration count to slow down brute-force attacks. Rainbow tables become ineffective because each salt forces the attacker to generate a new table for that specific salt, multiplying the required storage and computation by the number of unique salts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A developer is choosing between AES-256 (symmetric) and RSA-2048 (asymmetric) for encrypting a large file that will be sent to a partner. Symmetric encryption is fast but requires key exchange; asymmetric is slower but solves the key distribution problem. A hybrid approach — encrypt the file with AES, encrypt the AES key with RSA — is standard. Questions like this test whether you understand when each approach applies.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this SY0-701 question in full detail.
General Security Concepts — This question tests General Security Concepts — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Add a unique salt to each password before hashing it. — Adding a unique salt to each password before hashing ensures that even if two users have the same password, their hashes will differ. This defeats precomputed attacks like rainbow tables because the attacker would need to compute a separate table for each salt value, which is computationally infeasible. Salting is a standard defense recommended by NIST SP 800-63B and implemented in modern systems like bcrypt, scrypt, and PBKDF2.
What should I do if I get this SY0-701 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Based on the exhibit, which change would most improve the security of the stored password data?
medium
A.Store the passwords in encrypted form so they can be recovered later if needed.
✓ B.Add a unique salt per password and use a slow password hashing algorithm.
C.Replace the hash with a plain SHA-256 digest because it is modern and widely supported.
D.Append the application name to each password before hashing to make the hashes unique.
Why B: Option B is correct because adding a unique salt per password prevents precomputed rainbow table attacks, and using a slow password hashing algorithm (like bcrypt, PBKDF2, or Argon2) increases the computational cost of brute-force attacks. This combination ensures that even if the password hashes are compromised, attackers cannot efficiently crack them. Salting also ensures that identical passwords produce different hashes, eliminating the ability to detect shared passwords across accounts.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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