Which aspect of encryption does salting enhance?

Salting enhances password strength against dictionary attacks by adding a unique, random value (the salt) to each password before it is hashed. This technique ensures that even if two users have the same password, their hashed values will be different due to the unique salt associated with each password.

This is particularly important in defending against dictionary attacks, which involve using precomputed lists of potential passwords to find matches against stored hashes. Without salting, a hacker could use a dictionary of common passwords and their corresponding hashes to quickly crack multiple accounts sharing the same password. By applying a unique salt, even if a common password is chosen by multiple users, the resulting hashes will differ, making it significantly more challenging for an attacker to use precomputed tables effectively.

The other choices, while related to security, do not directly address the specific enhancement provided by salting in relation to passwords. Data integrity is concerned with maintaining the accuracy and consistency of data, network security pertains to protecting data during transmission, and data retrieval focuses on how data is accessed and managed, all of which do not directly involve the process of hashing passwords with unique salts.