How would an IP spoofing attack be best classified?

The correct answer is A. Session hijacking attack. IP spoofing involves forging the source IP address of packets to impersonate a trusted host, which is the core mechanism behind session hijacking - the attacker assumes a legitimate host's identity to intercept or take over an established communication session. Option B…

Submitted by carter_n· Apr 18, 2026Network and Communications Security

Question

Options

ASession hijacking attack
BPassive attack
CFragmentation attack
DSniffing attack

How the community answered

(32 responses)

A
91% (29)
C
3% (1)
D
6% (2)

Explanation

IP spoofing involves forging the source IP address of packets to impersonate a trusted host, which is the core mechanism behind session hijacking - the attacker assumes a legitimate host's identity to intercept or take over an established communication session. Option B (passive attack) is wrong because IP spoofing requires actively injecting forged packets; passive attacks only observe traffic without altering it. Option C (fragmentation attack) is wrong because that category refers to exploiting how IP packets are reassembled from fragments (e.g., Teardrop attacks), which is unrelated to address forgery. Option D (sniffing) is wrong because sniffing passively captures traffic, whereas IP spoofing actively sends crafted packets.

Memory tip: Think of IP spoofing as "identity theft on the network" - the attacker steals another host's address to hijack the session, which maps directly to session hijacking.

Topics

#IP spoofing#Session hijacking#Network attacks#Attack classification

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