Information Technology Specialist (ITS) Cybersecurity Practice Exam

When an attacker connects a laptop to a wireless network to lease all available IP addresses, what type of attack is this?

1. DHCP Snooping

2. DHCP Starvation

3. DHCP Spoofing

4. IP Spoofing

The correct answer is: DHCP Starvation

The scenario described involves an attacker connecting a device to a wireless network with the aim of leasing all available IP addresses. This practice is known as DHCP Starvation. In a DHCP Starvation attack, the attacker utilizes a program or script to rapidly send DHCP requests to the network's DHCP server, seeking to lease multiple IP addresses. By exhausting the pool of available IP addresses, the attacker can deny legitimate users the ability to obtain an IP address, which prevents them from connecting to the network. This type of attack can lead to denial of service, as it renders the network essentially unusable for legitimate clients who cannot connect. This situation does not relate to DHCP Snooping, which is a security feature designed to prevent unauthorized DHCP servers from allocating IP addresses. DHCP Spoofing involves an attacker impersonating a legitimate DHCP server to respond to client requests, providing false IP addresses and potentially malicious configurations. IP Spoofing refers to the creation of IP packets with a forged sender address to deceive the receiver and gain unauthorized access or bypass security controls. Thus, understanding this context clarifies why DHCP Starvation is the appropriate classification for the described attack.