200-201 Security Concepts Practice Question
A security analyst is reviewing logs and notices that an attacker has intercepted and modified communications between two devices on the same network. Which attack technique is being used?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is that ARP spoofing is the enabling mechanism for a LAN MITM, so candidates pick the technique rather than the attack category the question is asking about.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Man-in-the-Middle
A man-in-the-middle attack is when an attacker intercepts and modifies communications between two parties who believe they are talking directly to each other. The scenario describes interception and modification of traffic between two devices on the same network, which is the defining behavior of a MITM attack. ARP spoofing is often the technique used to enable MITM on a LAN, but the attack technique described is MITM itself.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reconnaissance
Why it's wrong here
Reconnaissance covers information gathering such as scanning and enumeration before an exploit, so it produces no interception or alteration of traffic. It would be correct if the analyst saw port scans or footprinting activity, but the described on-path modification of communications between two hosts points to a man-in-the-middle technique.
- ✗
ARP spoofing
Why it's wrong here
ARP spoofing is a technique used in MitM, but not the overall attack.
- ✓
Man-in-the-Middle
Why this is correct
Man-in-the-Middle attacks satisfy the on-path interception constraint: the adversary inserts themselves between two communicating devices, relaying and altering traffic without either party detecting it. Unlike passive sniffing, which only copies packets, MitM actively modifies data in transit, matching the stem's intercepted and modified communications.
- ✗
DNS poisoning
Why it's wrong here
DNS poisoning corrupts resolver caches so name lookups return attacker-controlled addresses, redirecting victims to rogue hosts. It would fit if logs showed falsified DNS responses. Here the attacker is intercepting and modifying traffic between two devices on the same segment, which is on-path manipulation rather than name resolution tampering.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 968 original 200-201 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Cisco exam blueprint
This 200-201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 200-201 exam.