Which DDoS attack floods the target with a large number of SYN requests containing spoofed source IPs, exhausting half-open connections?

Which DDoS attack floods the target with a large number of SYN requests containing spoofed source IPs, exhausting half-open connections?

• A. SYN-ACK Flood Attack
• B. HTTP GET Attack
• C. SYN Flood Attack
• D. Fragmentation Attack

Answer: (C)

Understanding how a TCP SYN flood abuses the TCP handshake to exhaust server resources. In this attack, a flood of SYN packets is sent to the target, often with spoofed source IPs. Each SYN prompts the server to allocate state and respond with a SYN-ACK, waiting for the final ACK that never arrives because the sources are spoofed. The result is many half-open connections filling the backlog, preventing legitimate clients from completing the handshake and establishing new connections. This is the hallmark of a SYN Flood Attack. Why the other options don’t fit: flooding with SYN-ACKs targets the response path rather than initiating new half-open connections; an HTTP GET attack floods the application layer with requests, not the TCP handshake state; a fragmentation attack exploits packet fragmentation to strain reassembly or bypass filters, not to exhaust TCP connection state.

Understanding how a TCP SYN flood abuses the TCP handshake to exhaust server resources. In this attack, a flood of SYN packets is sent to the target, often with spoofed source IPs. Each SYN prompts the server to allocate state and respond with a SYN-ACK, waiting for the final ACK that never arrives because the sources are spoofed. The result is many half-open connections filling the backlog, preventing legitimate clients from completing the handshake and establishing new connections. This is the hallmark of a SYN Flood Attack.

Why the other options don’t fit: flooding with SYN-ACKs targets the response path rather than initiating new half-open connections; an HTTP GET attack floods the application layer with requests, not the TCP handshake state; a fragmentation attack exploits packet fragmentation to strain reassembly or bypass filters, not to exhaust TCP connection state.