to incoming ICMP Echo Request packets, the returned reply should include the same payload. This may be used to detect that the remote host was effectively woken up, by repeating a new request after some delay to allow the host to resume its network services. If the host was just sleeping in low power active state, a single request wakes up that host just enough to allow its Echo Reply service to reply instantly if that service was enabled. The host does not need to wake up all devices completely and may return to low-power mode after a short delay. Such configuration may be used to avoid a host to enter in hibernation state, with much longer wake-up delay, after some time passed in low power active mode. Security loopholes To conduct a denial-of-service attack, an attacker may send ping requests as fast as possible, possibly overwhelming the victim with ICMP echo requests. This technique is called a ping flood. Ping requests to multiple addresses, ping sweeps, may be used to obtain a list of all hosts on a network. See also fping hping Keepalive nping PathPing Ping of death Ping-pong scheme Smurf attack Traceroute References Further reading External links ping | Microsoft Docs Free network management software Internet Protocol based network software Network analyzers OS/2 commands Unix network-related software Windows administration Windows communication and services