Which statement correctly describes the -T flag's effect on scanning?

• A. To enable OS detection
• B. To specify the timing template for the scan, affecting speed and stealth
• C. To set the maximum retries
• D. To export scan results to XML

Answer: (B)

Controlling how fast a scan runs and how stealthy it looks is handled by timing templates in the scan tool. The -T flag selects a timing template that tunes probe timing, retransmissions, and timeouts, which directly affects both speed and detectability. A lower timing value makes the scan slower and less noticeable, while a higher value speeds things up but increases the chance of triggering defenses or dropping packets. This is why the statement about the -T flag determining the timing template and thus the balance of speed and stealth is correct. Other features are separate: OS detection is done with -O, maximum retries with --max-retries, and exporting results to XML with -oX.