SNMP is a protocol used to query hosts, servers, and devices about performance or health status data. This protocol has long been used by hackers to gather great amount of information about remote hos

SNMP primarily uses UDP on ports 161 (queries) and 162 (traps), not TCP, which actually makes it harder to filter and easier to spoof.

SNMPv1 and v2c authenticate requests using community strings (e.g., 'public', 'private') that are sent in plaintext within the UDP packet, allowing any attacker with network access to capture and reuse them via a packet sniffer.

Susceptibility to sniffing is a direct consequence of clear-text community strings (option B) rather than an independent feature of the protocol that enables information gathering.

Because SNMP is implemented on virtually all network devices including routers, switches, printers, and servers, a single compromised community string can be used to query a large portion of an enterprise network for performance metrics, interface details, and topology data.