Which attack is characterized by overwhelming a user with packets?

The attack characterized by overwhelming a user with packets is a Ping Flood. A Ping Flood is a type of Denial of Service (DoS) attack that involves sending a massive number of Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request packets (commonly known as 'pings') to a target host. The objective is to consume the target's bandwidth and resources, making it difficult for legitimate traffic to reach the host. This type of attack exploits the ICMP protocol's nature, where the target must respond to each ping request, thus overwhelming it with network traffic.

In contrast, the Ping of Death involves sending malformed or oversized packets that can crash the target system. A Smurf Attack uses ICMP packets directed to a network's broadcast address, amplifying the attack by causing all devices on the network to respond to the target. A Botnet refers to a network of compromised computers that can be used to perform various attacks, including packet flooding but is not in itself a specific type of flooding attack like the Ping Flood.