Which flags are generally required to spoof a scan so the targets believe someone else is scanning?

• A. -e and -Pn
• B. -S and -Pn
• C. -Pn only
• D. -S only

Answer: (A)

Spoofing a scan is about making the probe traffic look as if it’s coming from someone else, while also reducing clues that could reveal the real origin. The interface flag (-e) lets you choose the exact outbound path for the probes, which is important so the spoofed traffic exits through a known interface and follows a predictable route. The no-ping flag (-Pn) tells Nmap not to perform host discovery, so there aren’t extra discovery probes (like ICMP echo requests or ARP probes) that could generate responses pointing back to your real host. Using both together gives you more control over how the scan traffic leaves your machine and minimizes discovery chatter, helping the scan appear to originate from a different source.