The most likely cause of the late collisions on a half-duplex link is that the cable length is excessive. A half-duplex link is a communication channel that allows data transmission in one direction at a time. A collision occurs when two devices try to transmit data at the same time on the same channel, resulting in corrupted or lost data. A late collision occurs when a collision is detected after the first 64 bytes of the frame have been transmitted, indicating a problem with the physical layer of the network. One possible cause of late collisions is that the cable length is too long, exceeding the maximum distance allowed by the network standard. This can cause signal degradation, propagation delay, and synchronization issues, leading to late collisions. The other options are less likely to cause late collisions on a half-duplex link, as they may not affect the timing or quality of the signal transmission. References: CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Domain 4. Communication and Network Security, 4.2 Secure network components, 4.2.1 Establish secure communication channels, 4.2.1.1 Transmission methods; CISSP Exam Outline, Domain 4.
Communication and Network Security, 4.2 Secure network components, 4.2.1 Establish secure communication channels, 4.2.1.1 Transmission methods