Ethical Hacking Essentials Practice Test 2026 – The Complete Guide to Exam Success!

ARP poisoning is a technique that allows an attacker to intercept and manipulate traffic on a local area network. By sending falsified Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) messages, the attacker effectively associates their MAC address with the IP address of another device, such as a router or another host. As a result, any data packets intended for that IP address are instead sent to the attacker's machine, allowing them to view, capture, or alter the traffic before passing it on to its intended destination.

This capability to redirect traffic is central to the objectives of many network-based attacks, such as Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks, where the attacker can eavesdrop on communications or inject malicious content. In this context, ARP poisoning does not improve network performance, enhance data integrity, or create secure communication channels, as it fundamentally disrupts normal operations to facilitate unauthorized access to data.