Which action can be used to limit attack impact, aside from dropping packets?

• A. Increase encryption
• B. Limit suspicious traffic to a percentage of bandwidth
• C. Redirect to a honeypot
• D. None of these

Answer: (B)

Rate limiting is a practical way to cap how much traffic from suspicious sources can use the network, so an attack can’t saturate all available bandwidth. By enforcing a predictable share or cap for traffic from unknown or high-risk sources, you preserve enough capacity for legitimate users and keep services responsive even under attack. This approach doesn’t require identifying every malicious packet; it simply constrains the overall rate, which helps maintain availability.

Increasing encryption doesn’t directly curb flood traffic; it secures data in transit but adds processing overhead and can complicate inspection, without reducing the volume of harmful traffic. Redirecting traffic to a honeypot can help study attacker behavior, but it doesn’t prevent the malicious traffic from impacting real services. None of these alternatives provide the same immediate, volume-limiting protection that rate limiting offers in this scenario.