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200-201 Practice Question: An analyst notices a series of SYN packets sent…
An analyst notices a series of SYN packets sent to a host at increasing speed, with no SYN-ACK replies. What kind of attack is this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between a SYN flood (TCP handshake exhaustion) and a Smurf attack (ICMP broadcast amplification), so candidates mistakenly associate any flood of packets with ICMP-based attacks rather than recognizing the specific TCP SYN behavior described.
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
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SYN flood
A SYN flood attack exploits the TCP three-way handshake by sending a rapid succession of SYN packets to a target host without completing the handshake. The target allocates resources for each half-open connection, eventually exhausting its connection table and denying service to legitimate traffic. The absence of SYN-ACK replies confirms the attacker is not responding to the handshake, a hallmark of this volumetric denial-of-service technique.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
SYN flood
Why this is correct
SYN flood exploits the TCP handshake by sending many SYN packets.
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SSL stripping
Why it's wrong here
SSL stripping downgrades HTTPS to HTTP.
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ARP spoofing
Why it's wrong here
ARP spoofing manipulates ARP tables, not SYN packets.
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Smurf attack
Why it's wrong here
Smurf uses ICMP echo requests with spoofed source IP.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.