18. Thousands of compromised machines are attempting to make fake purchases from an online store. Which of the following is taking place?
Answer: C
DDoS is taking place.
A large number of compromised machines are overwhelming an online store by attempting to make fake purchases, which is characteristic of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
A) Brute-force attack
A brute-force attack involves attempting numerous combinations of passwords or encryption keys until the correct one is found. This option does not apply to the scenario since the focus is on overwhelming a service rather than cracking a password.
B) Spoofing
Spoofing refers to the act of masquerading as another device or user on a network to gain unauthorized access or information. While it may be involved in various attacks, it does not accurately describe the situation where numerous machines are attempting to overwhelm an online store.
C) DDoS
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack occurs when multiple compromised systems are used to flood a target with traffic, causing disruption to services. In this case, the thousands of compromised machines making fake purchases are indicative of a DDoS attack aimed at the online store.
D) SQL Injection
SQL Injection is a code injection technique that exploits vulnerabilities in an application's software to manipulate databases. This option is not relevant to the situation described, as it does not involve overwhelming a service with requests but rather targeting vulnerabilities in data handling.
Conclusion
The correct answer, DDoS, accurately describes the scenario of multiple machines attempting to disrupt an online store by making fake purchases. Other options, such as brute-force attacks, spoofing, and SQL injection, do not align with the characteristics of overwhelming a service with traffic, which is the essence of a DDoS attack.