SSCP · Question #234
Which of the following are NOT a countermeasure to traffic analysis?
The correct answer is B. Eavesdropping. Eavesdropping (B) is not a countermeasure - it is the threat. Eavesdropping is the act of passively monitoring communications to analyze traffic patterns (timing, volume, source/destination), making it the attack you're trying to defend against, not a defense itself. Why the…
Question
Options
- APadding messages.
- BEavesdropping.
- CSending noise.
- DFaraday Cage
How the community answered
(47 responses)- A6% (3)
- B87% (41)
- C2% (1)
- D4% (2)
Explanation
Eavesdropping (B) is not a countermeasure - it is the threat. Eavesdropping is the act of passively monitoring communications to analyze traffic patterns (timing, volume, source/destination), making it the attack you're trying to defend against, not a defense itself.
Why the distractors are wrong:
- A (Padding): Adding dummy bytes to messages normalizes their size, preventing an attacker from inferring content type or meaning from packet length - a genuine countermeasure.
- C (Sending noise): Generating cover/dummy traffic obscures real communication patterns by making it impossible to distinguish meaningful exchanges from random noise - a genuine countermeasure.
- D (Faraday Cage): A Faraday cage blocks electromagnetic emissions from escaping a physical space, preventing RF-based signal interception and side-channel traffic analysis - a genuine countermeasure.
Memory tip: Group the three real countermeasures as "hide the signal" strategies - pad the message, flood with noise, cage the emissions. Eavesdropping is the enemy, not the shield.
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