ITPEC IP October 2021 Question 36

Which of the following is a DoS attack?

a)Interrupting a network service by sending a large number of requestsb)Spying on the data of other people on a communication pathc)Trying various combinations of letters or numbers to unlock an accountd)Using a service on a network illegally by pretending to be another person

Explanation

Interrupting a network service by sending a large number of requests — a DoS (Denial of Service) attack makes a service unavailable to its legitimate users.

The attacker floods a server or network with requests or packets until its processing capacity or bandwidth runs out and genuine users can no longer be served. When many machines, often a botnet of infected PCs, attack together, it is a DDoS (Distributed DoS) attack. It damages availability, rather than stealing or altering data.

Answer (a)

Why not others:

•(b) — eavesdropping (sniffing), which harms confidentiality
•(c) — a brute-force attack, trying every combination to crack a password or PIN
•(d) — spoofing (impersonation), using someone else's identity to get unauthorised access

Key rule: DoS targets availability; eavesdropping targets confidentiality; brute-force and spoofing aim at unauthorised access.

Security · AI-written, may contain errors

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