To reduce sniffing risk, which practice should organizations avoid?

• A. Organizations should adopt insecure protocols to test the network.
• B. Organizations should use only FTP for all transfers.
• C. Organizations should rely on Telnet for remote access.
• D. Organizations should avoid using insecure protocols like basic HTTP authentication, FTP, and Telnet.

Answer: (D)

Sniffing risk comes from sending sensitive information in plaintext over the network. To reduce this risk, avoid protocols that expose credentials and data unencrypted. Basic HTTP authentication, FTP, and Telnet all transmit information in clear text, making it easy for anyone monitoring the network to read credentials and data. So the best practice is to avoid these insecure protocols altogether and use secure alternatives like HTTPS, SSH, and SFTP/FTPS for transfers and remote access.

The other scenarios describe using insecure protocols rather than avoiding them, which would increase sniffing risk rather than reduce it.