CISSP Practice Exam 2025 – Complete Prep Guide

UDP, or User Datagram Protocol, is characterized by its connectionless nature, which means it does not establish a connection before data transmission occurs. This allows for faster communication since there is no overhead associated with setting up and maintaining a connection. One of the defining features of UDP is that it does not guarantee message delivery. This means that messages sent using UDP can be lost in transit, delivered out of order, or duplicated, as there are no mechanisms in place to ensure that the sender receives confirmation that the recipient has successfully received the data.

This characteristic makes UDP suitable for applications where speed is crucial, and the application layer can tolerate some data loss — such as video streaming or online gaming. These applications prioritize timely transmission over complete accuracy of the packets being sent.

In contrast, protocols such as TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) provide reliability by establishing a connection and ensuring that all data packets are delivered accurately and in order, which is not a feature of UDP. The other options listed all suggest attributes associated with more reliable or secure protocols, which do not align with the key features of UDP.