What is the goal of an availability attack?

The goal of an availability attack is to disrupt access to resources, such as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). This type of attack targets the availability aspect of the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability), which means the primary aim is to ensure that legitimate users cannot access services or resources when needed.

In the context of WLAN, this could involve methods such as Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, where the attacker floods the network with excessive traffic or employs tactics to disrupt the normal functioning of access points. By effectively denying service to users, the attacker harms the operational capacity of the network, which is the essence of an availability attack.

While the other options mention different forms of cyber attacks, they do not specifically focus on the disruption of access to resources, which is the key characteristic of availability attacks. The aim of stealing data or exploiting software vulnerabilities pertains more to compromising confidentiality and integrity rather than simply causing disruption. Installing malware also usually aims at gaining unauthorized access or control over systems rather than just disrupting service for legitimate users.