Ping Of Death

Often abbreviated as POD, a ping of death is a strike on a computer that transmits a malicious ping to a computer. It functions by sending signals in packets that are larger than the maximum packet size, thus leading to a crash of the targeted machine. According to network protocol, transmitting a ping larger than 65,535 bytes is illegal. However, a packet of this size may still be sent if it has been fragmented. This will often lead to buffer overflow condition that may eventually lead to a crash of the computer. The ping of death has been responsible for exploiting a wide range of platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux and other Unix-like shells. Vulnerabilities may also be exploited through printers and routers. Over the years, variations of the ping of death have been implemented by several malicious computer users. Many of them will use a technique known as ping flooding to overload a victim with so much traffic from the ping that legitimate traffic fails to reach them.