A security administrator is notified that users attached to a particular switch are having intermittent
connectivity issues. Upon further research, the administrator finds evidence of an ARP spoofing attack.
Which of the following could be utilized to provide protection from this type of attack?
A.
Configure MAC filtering on the switch.
B.
Configure loop protection on the switch.
C.
Configure flood guards on the switch.
D.
Configure 802.1x authentication on the switch.
Explanation:
ARP spoofing is a type of attack in which a malicious actor sends falsified ARP (Address Resolution
Protocol) messages over a local area network. This results in the linking of an attacker’s MAC address with
the IP address of a legitimate computer or server on the network. Once the attacker’s MAC address is
connected to an authentic IP address, the attacker will begin receiving any data that is intended for that
IP address. ARP spoofing can enable malicious parties to intercept, modify or even stop data in-transit.
ARP spoofing attacks can only occur on local area networks that utilize the Address Resolution Protocol.
To perform ARP spoofing the attacker floods the network with spoofed ARP packets. As other hosts on
the LAN cache the spoofed ARP packets, data that those hosts send to the victim will go to the attacker
instead. From here, the attacker can steal data or launch a more sophisticated follow-up attack.
A flood guard configured on the network switch will block the flood of spoofed ARP packets.
Incorrect Answers:
A: MAC filtering will restrict which computers can connect to the switch ports by specifying which MAC
address is allowed to connect to each port. However, it will not prevent any of those computers from
initiating an ARP spoofing attack.
B: Loop protection is used to prevent broadcast storms when there are multiple links between network
switches. Spanning Tree Protocol is one type of loop protection. Loop protection does not prevent ARP
spoofing attacks.
D: With 802.1X port-based authentication, the supplicant (client device) provides credentials, such as user
name/password or digital certificate, to the authenticator, and the authenticator forwards the credentials
to the authentication server for verification. If the authentication server determines the credentials are
valid, the supplicant (client device) is allowed to access resources located on the protected side of the
network. However, once the authenticated device is connected to the switch, 802.1x cannot prevent the
device from initiating an ARP spoofing attack.http://www.veracode.co.uk/security/arp-spoofing