Certified Incident Handler (CIH) Practice Ecam

Identify the fuzz testing strategy in which the current data samples create new test data that will be transformed to generate further random data until the target is reached.

1. Mutation based

2. Generation based

3. Smart fuzzing

4. Protocol fuzzing

The correct answer is: Mutation based

The fuzz testing strategy described involves taking existing data samples and then transforming them to create new variations of test data. This approach is known as mutation-based fuzz testing. In this method, the original data inputs are modified—through techniques such as bit flipping, random alterations, or other means—to generate new test cases that are then used to assess the robustness of the system being tested. Mutation-based fuzz testing is particularly effective because it allows for the exploration of edge cases and unexpected input scenarios that may not be covered by the original data or designed test cases. By leveraging existing samples, testers can quickly generate a diverse set of inputs that help in identifying vulnerabilities or weaknesses in software applications. Contextually, other strategies like generation-based fuzzing rely on creating inputs from scratch, rather than modifying existing data. Smart fuzzing combines techniques to optimize test case generation, while protocol fuzzing is focused specifically on testing network protocols using structured input derived from the protocol specifications. These approaches are valuable as well but differ fundamentally in how new test data is created.