AP® Cybersecurity glossary
MAC flooding
Sending a switch many frames with different fake media access control (MAC) addresses so its table fills and it broadcasts frames out of every port.
Appears in the course and exam description (CED): 3.1.A.23.5.E.43.3.B.4
Why it matters in Unit 3
Detect it by watching for an unexpected surge of Ethernet frames with different MAC addresses; prevent it with port security, which limits addresses per switch port.
Example
A switch’s MAC address table suddenly fills with thousands of unfamiliar entries, and an adversary on one port starts receiving everyone’s traffic.
Learn it properly, with a checkpoint Networks: hosts, packets and the devices that move them