Which of the following generated the above output?

A security analyst is reviewing the output of tcpdump to analyze the type of activity on a packet capture:

Which of the following generated the above output?
A . A port scan
B. A TLS connection
C. A vulnerability scan
D. A ping sweep

View Answer

Answer: B

Explanation:

A port scan generated the output. A port scan is a type of attack that probes a host or a network for open ports or services. A port scan can help an attacker discover potential vulnerabilities or entry points for further exploitation. The output shows that tcpdump captured packets with different flags, such as SYN, ACK, RST, and FIN, which indicate different stages of the TCP three-way handshake or connection termination. The output also shows that the source IP address 192.168.1.100 sent packets to different destination ports on the target IP address 192.168.1.101, such as 22, 23, 25, 80, and 443. These are common ports that an attacker would scan to find out what services are running on the target.