ICMP Tunneling
Noun · Security & Infosec
Definitions
ICMP Tunneling is an attack technique in which an adversary uses ICMP packets as a covert path for data transfer or command traffic. Defenders analyze it to understand prerequisites, affected trust boundaries, and likely telemetry, then reduce risk with layered controls such as validation, hardening, rate limits, segmentation, and high-quality logging for investigation and response.
In plain English: ICMP Tunneling is a way attackers abuse systems or trust relationships, and defenders counter it with better design, validation, monitoring, and layered controls.
Example: "During the assessment, the team simulated ICMP Tunneling against a staging service, confirmed the weakness with logs and telemetry, and then added tighter validation, safer defaults, and monitoring so the same technique would trigger an alert in production."