Solution

The primary function of Network Address Translation (NAT) is to map private IP addresses within a local network to a single public IP address for outbound traffic. This allows multiple devices on a local network to share a single public IP address when accessing external networks, such as the internet. NAT enhances security by hiding the internal IP structure of the network and helps in the conservation of public IP addresses, which are a limited resource. When an internal device sends a request to the internet, the NAT device replaces the private IP address with the public IP address, enabling responses to be routed back to the correct device. Why Other Options are Incorrect: A) Encrypting data packets for secure transmission.: NAT does not encrypt data; its primary role is address mapping and translation. C) Converting IP addresses from IPv4 to IPv6.: NAT does not perform conversions between different IP address versions; it solely maps internal IPs to a public IP. D) Filtering incoming and outgoing network traffic.: While NAT can work in conjunction with firewalls to filter traffic, its primary purpose is not traffic filtering. E) Managing bandwidth allocation across networks.: NAT does not manage bandwidth; it simply translates IP addresses for data packets.