GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH) — Question 81

You check performance logs and note that there has been a recent dramatic increase in the amount of broadcast traffic. What is this most likely to be an indicator of?

Answer options

• A. Virus
• B. Syn flood
• C. Misconfigured router
• D. DoS attack

Correct answer: D

Explanation

A significant increase in broadcast traffic is often a sign of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, where an attacker overwhelms the network with excessive requests. While a virus or SYN flood could cause increased traffic, they typically do not result in a dramatic surge in broadcast traffic like a DoS attack would. A misconfigured router might cause traffic issues, but it wouldn't specifically lead to an increase in broadcast traffic.