Which hping3 option initiates a flood of packets to overwhelm the target?

• A. --scan
• B. --flood
• C. --listen
• D. --verbose

Answer: (B)

Flood mode is about blasting the target with as many packets as the network can handle, as quickly as possible. The --flood option in hping3 switches the tool into high-speed transmission, bypassing normal pacing so it continuously sends crafted packets to saturate the target. This behavior is used for controlled load or resilience testing in a lab environment, not typical routine scanning or monitoring. The other options serve different roles—one is for scanning ports or hosts, another makes hping3 listen for traffic, and the last increases the amount of output detail. So, the option that starts a packet flood is the --flood flag. used responsibly and legally only in authorized environments.