Editing Smurf attack (section)

{{Short description|Type of  attack on a computer network}}

[[File:Ddos-attack-ex.png|thumb|alt=Diagram of the attack]]
A '''Smurf attack''' is a [[distributed denial-of-service attack]] in which large numbers of [[Internet Control Message Protocol]] (ICMP) packets with the intended victim's [[IP address spoofing|spoofed]] source IP are broadcast to a [[computer network]] using an IP [[broadcast address]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sun |first=Fei Xian |date=2011 |title=Danger Theory Based Risk Evaluation Model for Smurf Attacks |url=https://www.scientific.net/KEM.467-469.515 |journal=Key Engineering Materials |language=en |volume=467-469 |pages=515–521 |doi=10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.467-469.515 |s2cid=110045205 |issn=1662-9795|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Most devices on a network will, by default, respond to this by sending a reply to the source IP address. If the number of machines on the network that receive and respond to these packets is very large, the victim's computer will be flooded with traffic. This can slow down the victim's computer to the point where it becomes impossible to work on.