A sniffing attack is best described as which of the following?

• A. It uses social engineering to obtain passwords
• B. It floods the network with traffic
• C. It bypasses authentication
• D. It intercepts and analyzes network traffic

Answer: (D)

Sniffing involves intercepting and analyzing network traffic as it moves across the network. A packet sniffer captures the data packets being transmitted, allowing an observer to read the contents of those packets—such as usernames, passwords, or other sensitive information—if the data isn’t encrypted. This makes sniffing fundamentally about eavesdropping on data in transit.

The other scenarios describe different attack aims: social engineering tricks people into revealing credentials, flooding the network to disrupt service, or bypassing authentication mechanisms. These are not about observing and inspecting ongoing traffic, which is the essence of a sniffing attack.