Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Practice Exam 2026 – Your All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

The primary goal of a Chosen-plaintext attack is to encrypt specific plaintext in order to find the key. In this type of attack, the attacker has the ability to choose arbitrary plaintexts and then obtain the corresponding ciphertexts after encryption. By analyzing these pairs of plaintexts and ciphertexts, the attacker can develop insights into the key or the encryption algorithm itself.

This method relies on the relationship between plaintext and ciphertext, allowing for the extraction of information about how the encryption process alters data based on the key used. The information gleaned can help in deducing what the key might be or can expose vulnerabilities within the encryption algorithm if a weakness is present.

In contrast, modifying existing plaintext before encryption does not directly align with the purpose of a Chosen-plaintext attack, which specifically emphasizes the selection of plaintexts to analyze their encrypted outcomes. Similarly, simply analyzing encrypted messages for patterns does not involve the active choice of plaintext, which is a critical aspect of this attack. Finally, while observing the effects of specific keys on encryption might provide some insights, the distinctive feature of a Chosen-plaintext attack is the ability to control what plaintext is encrypted, making the pursuit of the key more direct and effective.