(ISC)2 Certified in Cybersecurity Practice Exam

Which of the following best describes the term 'fragment attack'?

1. Intercepting data packets

2. Splitting packets to evade detection

3. Disabling a network service

4. Compromising data integrity

The correct answer is: Splitting packets to evade detection

The term 'fragment attack' best describes the action of splitting packets to evade detection. In this type of attack, an attacker divides malicious data packets into smaller fragments. The intent behind fragmenting packets is to circumvent security measures such as intrusion detection systems (IDS) or firewalls, which may struggle to analyze fragmented data correctly. By doing this, an attacker can hide malicious payloads within these smaller fragments, allowing the attack to be executed without being detected by standard security protocols that scan for complete data packets. This method exploits how network protocols handle and process packets. Complete packets are often inspected for malicious content; if the data is fragmented, the IDS might not reassemble these fragments correctly or may not look deep enough to identify the malicious content. Therefore, the efficacy of a fragment attack lies in its capability to navigate around detection mechanisms, making it a particularly stealthy form of an attack.