CompTIA DataSys+ (DS0-001)Data and Database SecurityMedium
A large e-commerce platform uses a microservices architecture with multiple backend databases. During peak sales events, the platform experiences intermittent slowdowns and occasional database connection timeouts. Security analysts observe a high volume of unusually crafted, legitimate-looking queries originating from a wide range of IP addresses, all targeting the product catalog database. This traffic pattern overwhelms the database, preventing legitimate users from accessing services. Which type of attack is MOST likely occurring?
- ASQL Injection
- BPrivilege escalation
- CDistributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
- DBrute-force attack
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
The scenario describes a high volume of traffic from many sources ('wide range of IP addresses') overwhelming the database and denying service to legitimate users, which is characteristic of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. These attacks can target database resources directly by overwhelming them with complex or numerous queries.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. SQL Injection involves malicious code in queries to manipulate data, not typically high-volume legitimate-looking queries to cause slowdowns.
- B. Privilege escalation aims to gain higher access rights within a system, not to overwhelm it with external traffic.
- D. Brute-force attacks try many passwords to gain unauthorized access, not to overwhelm a database with legitimate-looking queries.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
A malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic from multiple compromised computer systems.
- Involves multiple sources (botnet) attacking a single target.
- Aims to exhaust system resources (bandwidth, CPU, memory, database connections).
- Can be mitigated by traffic filtering, rate limiting, and content delivery networks (CDNs).
Memory trick: Too many cooks spoil the database broth.