Hack Your Way to Success: 2025 Ethical Hacking Essentials Challenge – Level Up Your Skills!

A rootkit is a type of malicious software designed to gain unauthorized access to a computer or network while concealing its presence and the presence of other malicious software. The primary purpose of utilizing a rootkit is to hide itself and other malicious activities from the user and security tools. This allows attackers to maintain long-term access to the system and perform various actions without detection, such as stealing data, monitoring user activities, or installing additional malware.

The other options do not align with the primary function of a rootkit. Enhancing system performance or user experience is not a goal of a rootkit; in fact, a rootkit can often degrade performance as it operates stealthily in the background. Analyzing system vulnerabilities is more associated with penetration testing and ethical hacking rather than malicious activities, which is not the intent behind deploying a rootkit. Thus, the correct answer highlights the concealment aspect, which is essential for attackers looking to maintain undetected control over a compromised system.