Which term describes an attacker forging the MAC address of a valid host?

Which term describes an attacker forging the MAC address of a valid host?

• A. Spoofing (MAC)
• B. Spoofing (IP)
• C. Spanning Tree Protocol
• D. Spyware

Answer: (A)

This question centers on MAC address spoofing: an attacker changes the hardware address their network interface presents to the network, so it appears as if the frames are coming from a different, legitimate host. By presenting the MAC address of a valid device, the attacker can try to bypass simple MAC-based access controls or monitoring that rely on that address, and may influence how switches forward frames or how ARP entries are resolved. The other terms don’t fit this scenario: forging an IP address is IP spoofing, Spanning Tree Protocol is about preventing switching loops, and spyware is malware that collects data. So, describing the attacker as performing MAC address spoofing is the correct concept here.

This question centers on MAC address spoofing: an attacker changes the hardware address their network interface presents to the network, so it appears as if the frames are coming from a different, legitimate host. By presenting the MAC address of a valid device, the attacker can try to bypass simple MAC-based access controls or monitoring that rely on that address, and may influence how switches forward frames or how ARP entries are resolved. The other terms don’t fit this scenario: forging an IP address is IP spoofing, Spanning Tree Protocol is about preventing switching loops, and spyware is malware that collects data. So, describing the attacker as performing MAC address spoofing is the correct concept here.