Systems Security Certified Practitioner – SSCP – Question1056

Why is traffic across a packet switched network difficult to monitor?

A.
Packets are link encrypted by the carrier
B. Government regulations forbids monitoring
C. Packets can take multiple paths when transmitted
D. The network factor is too high

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

With a packet switched network, packets are difficult to monitor because they can be transmitted using different paths.
A packet-switched network is a digital communications network that groups all transmitted data, irrespective of content, type, or structure into suitably sized blocks, called packets. The network over which packets are transmitted is a shared network which routes each packet independently from all others and allocates transmission resources as needed.
The principal goals of packet switching are to optimize utilization of available link capacity, minimize response times and increase the robustness of communication. When traversing network adapters, switches and other network nodes, packets are buffered and queued, resulting in variable delay and throughput, depending on the traffic load in the network.
Most modern Wide Area Network (WAN) protocols, including TCP/IP, X.25, and Frame Relay, are based on packet-switching technologies. In contrast, normal telephone service is based on a circuit-switching technology, in which a dedicated line is allocated for transmission between two parties. Circuit-switching is ideal when data must be transmitted quickly and must arrive in the same order in which it’s sent. This is the case with most real-time data, such as live audio and video. Packet switching is more efficient and robust for data that can withstand some delays in transmission, such as e-mail messages and Web pages.
All of the other answer are wrong
Reference(s) used for this question: TIPTON, Hal, (ISC)2, Introduction to the CISSP Exam presentation.
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet-switched_network and http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/packet_switching.html