Network Administrator Street Smarts: A Real World Guide to CompTIA Network+® Skills, Second Edition

3.6. Task 3.6: Mitigating the Ping of Death

As a general rule, the ping utility is a valuable tool for validating remote IP host availability, confirming local node connectivity in the same instant. However, in the wrong hands the ping utility can become a destructive force of mammoth proportions. In fact, when wielded maliciously the ping utility can generate the "ping of death," a seemingly incessant barrage on one or more key hosts that can bring a network (including its primary resources) to its knees. Administrators often go to great lengths to match network bandwidth and equipment throughput to the projected needs of their infrastructure. It doesn't take much outside of the original plan to throw this delicate balance into a death spiral. ...