Which term describes periodic outbound communication from compromised hosts to a command-and-control server to evade detection?

• A. Lateral Movement
• B. Exfiltration
• C. Beaconing
• D. Pinging

Answer: (C)

Beacons describe periodic outbound communication from compromised hosts to a command-and-control server. This pattern lets attackers maintain control, fetch commands, or receive updates while blending into regular traffic and avoiding obvious bursts of data transfer. The regular “heartbeat” to the C2 is the key idea, distinguishing it from normal reachability checks or wider data theft.

Lateral Movement involves moving from one compromised host to others inside the network to expand access, not the regular check-ins to a control server. Exfiltration is about transferring data out of the environment, which may occur but isn’t defined by a periodic beacon to a C2. Pinging is simply testing reachability and isn’t about covert, ongoing control channels to a command-and-control server.