Ethical Hacking Essentials Practice Test

Which technique allows an attacker to gain network access by pretending to be another device?

1. MAC duplicating

2. DHCP spoofing

3. ARP poisoning

4. DNS spoofing

The correct answer is: MAC duplicating

The correct technique for gaining network access by pretending to be another device is MAC duplicating. This technique involves an attacker altering their device to take on the Media Access Control (MAC) address of a legitimate device on the network. As MAC addresses are used for addressing within local networks, successfully duplicating a MAC address can allow the attacker to intercept traffic or gain unauthorized access to network resources that are otherwise restricted. In a network environment, authenticating devices often relies on their MAC addresses, so when an attacker uses MAC duplicating, they can effectively masquerade as a trusted device. This enables them to bypass security measures that operate at the data link layer, such as MAC filtering on switches. Other techniques mentioned serve different purposes. DHCP spoofing involves an attacker posing as a DHCP server to respond to the requests of clients, but it doesn't inherently grant device impersonation capabilities. ARP poisoning allows attackers to associate their MAC address with the IP address of a legitimate device, effectively redirecting traffic but not directly impersonating a device's MAC address. Lastly, DNS spoofing alters name resolution but does not involve effectively impersonating another physical device on the network. Thus, MAC duplicating is the primary method that directly facilitates an attacker gaining network access by mimicking another