Which attack targets peer-to-peer networks by exploiting Direct Connect protocol bugs, initiating a DDoS without bots?

• A. DRDoS Attack
• B. Slowloris
• C. Random Recursive GET Flood Attack
• D. Peer-to-peer Attack

Answer: (D)

Exploiting Direct Connect protocol flaws to drive a flood uses the peer-to-peer network itself to generate the traffic. In a Direct Connect–based attack, the attacker abuses how peers connect and exchange data so many clients in the P2P network start contacting the target or relaying traffic toward it. Because this traffic comes from numerous legitimate peers rather than a centralized botnet, it creates a distributed denial of service without bots. That’s precisely what a peer-to-peer attack describes.

The other options involve different attack vectors: DRDoS relies on reflection or amplification via third-party servers and bot activity; Slowloris targets web servers by opening and holding many slow HTTP connections; Random Recursive GET Flood Attack uses HTTP GET requests in a flood, typically not tied to a P2P protocol. The scenario specifically hinges on abusing the Direct Connect protocol within a P2P network, making a peer-to-peer attack the correct characterization.