What type of attack can a traditional firewall help protect a system from?

A traditional firewall plays a significant role in protecting networks and systems from various threats by filtering incoming and outgoing traffic based on predetermined security rules. This capability makes it particularly effective against certain types of attacks, such as Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks.

In a DoS attack, the attacker attempts to overwhelm a target system or network by flooding it with a massive volume of traffic, causing legitimate requests to be denied due to resource exhaustion. A traditional firewall can help mitigate the impact of these attacks by limiting the amount of traffic that can enter or leave the network, thereby preventing excessive requests from reaching the target system. This traffic filtering can help maintain the availability of services, which is the primary goal in defending against DoS attacks.

In contrast, other options, such as dumpster diving, phishing, and shoulder surfing, are not primarily mitigated by firewalls. Dumpster diving involves physical retrieval of sensitive information from discarded materials, phishing relies on social engineering to deceive users into providing sensitive information, and shoulder surfing pertains to visual eavesdropping. These attacks generally require different defensive strategies outside the scope of what a firewall can provide.