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CompTIA Security+ 2.4
TechKnowSurge Catalog Interactives Broken, or Being Watched?
InteractiveNetworkFree

Broken, or Being Watched?

One case at a time: is the DHCP attack breaking connectivity, or quietly intercepting it? Land five in a row.

⚑ Complete this interactive to capture a CTF flag worth 5 points.

About this interactive

Both attacks involve an unauthorised answer to a DHCP request, and the lesson separates them by what the answer is for. A rogue DHCP server, often just a consumer router plugged into the wrong port, hands out an address, mask, gateway and DNS that do not work on this network. Clients end up on the wrong subnet and cannot reach the gateway, so the result is a denial of service: connectivity breaks. DHCP spoofing has a different aim. The attacker answers the request faster than the real server and hands the client a valid-looking configuration whose gateway or DNS the attacker controls. Connectivity still works, but every packet now travels through the attacker first, who forwards it on: an adversary in the middle. The defender's tell is the impact. If clients lose connectivity, think rogue DHCP and denial of service. If clients keep working but their traffic is being relayed through whoever answered DHCP, think spoofing and interception.

What you'll learn

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+
2.4 Given a scenario, analyze indicators of malicious activity.

Key terms

Rogue DHCP Server
An unauthorized DHCP server placed on a network by an attacker to distribute false IP configuration information, enabling denial-of-service or man-in-the-middle attacks.
DHCP Spoofing
An attack technique in which a threat actor emulates a legitimate DHCP server to intercept and respond to client requests, enabling denial-of-service or adversary-in-the-middle attacks.
Man-in-the-Middle Attack
MitM
An attack where an adversary secretly intercepts and potentially alters communications between two parties.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DHCP
A network protocol that automatically assigns IP addresses and other configuration parameters to devices on a network.

Topics

Interactive Streak Sort

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