Which of the following is an example of a passive attack?

Which of the following is an example of a passive attack?
A .  Denying services to legitimate users
B .  Shoulder surfing
C .  Brute-force password cracking
D .  Smurfing

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Answer: B

Explanation: Shoulder surfing is a form of a passive attack involving stealing passwords, personal identification numbers or other confidential information by looking over someone’s shoulder. All other forms of attack are active attacks, where a threat makes a modification to the system in an attempt to take advantage of a vulnerability.

Source: HARRIS, Shon, All-In-One CISSP Certification Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002, chapter 3: Security Management Practices (page 63).