Cisco Cyber Security Practice Exam

Which of the following statements describes a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack?

1. A botnet of zombies, coordinated by an attacker, overwhelms a server with DoS attacks

2. A single user sends too many requests to a server

3. An attacker hacks into a network and collects user data

4. A server is shut down due to maintenance issues

The correct answer is: A botnet of zombies, coordinated by an attacker, overwhelms a server with DoS attacks

A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is characterized by the use of multiple compromised systems, often referred to as a botnet, that are coordinated by an attacker to flood a target server with an overwhelming amount of traffic. This simultaneous barrage of requests from various sources can incapacitate the server, making it unable to respond to legitimate requests, thus causing a denial of service. The coordination among the botnet allows the attacker to amplify the attack beyond what a single user could achieve, making this method particularly effective and dangerous. The other statements do not accurately describe a DDoS attack. The mention of a single user sending too many requests refers to a standard denial of service (DoS) attack, not a distributed one involving multiple attackers. Hacking into a network to collect user data does not involve overwhelming a server with requests, which is fundamental to DDoS. Lastly, a server being shut down due to maintenance issues is a benign situation unrelated to malicious intent or overload from an attack. Therefore, the correct understanding of DDoS attacks lies in the coordinated, multi-source traffic overload that they employ.