CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor – Question2212

Which of the following attack is against computer network and involves fragmented or invalid ICMP packets sent to the target?

A.
Nuke attack
B. Brute force attack
C. Buffer overflow
D. Pulsing Zombie

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

Explanation:
A Nuke attack is an old denial-of-service attack against computer networks consisting of fragmented or otherwise invalid ICMP packets sent to the target, achieved by using a modified ping utility to repeatedly send this corrupt data, thus slowing down the affected computer until it comes to a complete stop.
A specific example of a nuke attack that gained some prominence is the Win Nuke, which exploited the vulnerability in the NetBIOS handler in Windows 95. A string of out-of-band data was sent to TCP port 139 of the victim’s machine, causing it to lock up and display a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).
The following answers are incorrect:
Brute force attack – Brute force (also known as brute force cracking) is a trial and error method used by application programs to decode encrypted data such as passwords or Data Encryption Standard (DES) keys, through exhaustive effort (using brute force) rather than employing intellectual strategies. Just as a criminal might break into, or “crack” a safe by trying many possible combinations, a brute force cracking application proceeds through all possible combinations of legal characters in sequence. Brute force is considered to be an infallible, although time-consuming, approach.
Buffer overflow – A buffer overflow occurs when a program or process tries to store more data in a buffer (temporary data storage area) than it was intended to hold. Since buffers are created to contain a finite amount of data, the extra information – which has to go somewhere – can overflow into adjacent buffers, corrupting or overwriting the valid data held in them. Although it may occur accidentally through programming error, buffer overflow is an increasingly common type of security attack on data integrity.
Pulsing Zombie – A Dos attack in which a network is subjected to hostile pinging by different attacker computer over an extended time period.
Reference:
CISA review manual 2014 Page number 322