Which statement about backscatter is true?

• A. Backscatter refers to the attacker's internal monitoring of traffic.
• B. Backscatter is the unsolicited responses received at random destinations when spoofed packets are sent.
• C. Backscatter is another term for IP spoofing.
• D. Backscatter increases traffic on the target.

Answer: (B)

Backscatter is the unwanted replies you’ll see arriving at various destinations across the Internet when packets are sent with forged source addresses. Because the source is spoofed, the responses travel to the addresses that were spoofed, which can be scattered across random locations. That’s why you observe unsolicited responses at random destinations when spoofed packets are sent. This description is the best fit because it captures the actual phenomenon: responses that come back to forged addresses, not to the attacker, appearing at many different places. It isn’t simply the attacker monitoring traffic, nor is backscatter another name for IP spoofing itself—the spoofing is the technique, while backscatter is the collateral replies it triggers. It also doesn’t inherently mean more traffic on the target itself; the backscatter traffic goes to the spoofed addresses, which may be anywhere, not necessarily the original target.