Against policy, employees have installed Peer-to-Peer applications on their workstations and they are using them over TCP port 80 to download files via the company network from other Peer-to- Peer…

The correct answer is A. Firewall subversion. This is a classic example of firewall subversion. Firewalls commonly block known P2P ports to prevent unauthorized file sharing. By tunneling P2P traffic over TCP port 80 (the standard HTTP web port), the P2P application disguises its traffic as normal web browsing, bypassing…

Network Security

Question

Against policy, employees have installed Peer-to-Peer applications on their workstations and they are using them over TCP port 80 to download files via the company network from other Peer-to- Peer users on the Internet. Which of the following describes this threat?

Options

AFirewall subversion
BBackdoor installation
CMalicious software infection
DPhishing attempt

How the community answered

(27 responses)

A
85% (23)
B
4% (1)
C
7% (2)
D
4% (1)

Explanation

This is a classic example of firewall subversion. Firewalls commonly block known P2P ports to prevent unauthorized file sharing. By tunneling P2P traffic over TCP port 80 (the standard HTTP web port), the P2P application disguises its traffic as normal web browsing, bypassing the firewall rules that would otherwise block it. The firewall is effectively defeated without being directly attacked. This is not a backdoor (which implies covert remote access), not malicious software infection (the P2P app itself isn't malware, even if policy-violating), and not phishing (which involves deceptive credential harvesting). The deliberate use of an allowed port to circumvent a network security control is the defining characteristic of firewall subversion.

Topics

#firewall subversion#port 80 tunneling#P2P applications#policy violation

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