Ethical Hacking Essentials Practice Test

What type of attack is characterized by sending untrusted data in web applications?

1. Denial of Service

2. Injection Attack

3. Cross-Site Scripting

4. Authorization Bypass

The correct answer is: Injection Attack

The correct answer is Injection Attack. This type of attack occurs when an attacker is able to send untrusted data to a web application that gets executed as part of a command or query. Injection attacks commonly exploit vulnerabilities in web applications by allowing malicious input to manipulate the interpreter in some way, often resulting in unauthorized access or alteration of data. For example, in the context of SQL injection, an attacker might insert malicious SQL statements into an input field intended for user data. If the application fails to properly sanitize this input, the database could process these commands, potentially compromising sensitive information or the integrity of the database itself. Other options present distinct types of attacks. Denial of Service is aimed at overwhelming a service to make it unavailable, whereas Cross-Site Scripting involves injecting scripts into web pages viewed by other users, allowing attackers to execute unauthorized scripts in their browsers. Authorization Bypass refers to circumventing security measures to access restricted areas or functions within an application, which is not inherently focused on sending untrusted input for execution.