Ethical Hacking Essentials Practice Test

What type of attack did Don carry out to disrupt the services of an e-commerce giant?

1. Phishing attack

2. Ransomware attack

3. DDoS attack

4. SQL injection attack

The correct answer is: DDoS attack

Don carried out a DDoS attack to disrupt the services of an e-commerce giant, which stands for Distributed Denial of Service. This type of attack is designed to overwhelm a targeted system, typically a web server, by flooding it with a massive amount of traffic from multiple sources. The goal is to exhaust the resources of the server, making it unable to handle legitimate user requests, thereby causing downtime or unavailability of the services offered by the site. In the context of an e-commerce platform, such an attack can have significant implications, affecting sales, customer trust, and the overall reputation of the company. A DDoS attack exploits the interconnected nature of networks by using botnets, which are networks of compromised computers, to launch coordinated traffic against the target. Other types of attacks mentioned, like phishing, ransomware, and SQL injection, are focused on data breaches, financial extortion, or exploiting vulnerabilities in databases. While these are serious threats in their own right, they do not primarily aim to disrupt services in the same way a DDoS attack does. Understanding this distinction is crucial for recognizing the different tactics used by attackers and the impact each type can have on organizations.