Which attack involves sending large volumes of ICMP echo request packets to a victim system directly or via reflectors?

• A. DoS attack
• B. DDoS attack
• C. Ping of Death
• D. ICMP flood attacks

Answer: (D)

The main concept here is a flood-based attack that uses ICMP echo requests to overwhelm a target’s network resources. In an ICMP flood, many Ping (echo request) packets are sent to the victim, forcing the target to reply with ICMP echo replies and thereby consume bandwidth and processing power. When this flood comes from a single source, it functions as a DoS; when it’s coordinated from many sources or uses reflectors to bounce traffic toward the victim, it becomes a DDoS scenario. The key thing this option captures is the specific technique: flooding with ICMP echo requests. Ping of Death refers to a different historic flaw involving oversized packets, and a general DoS term doesn’t name the exact method.