Timing attacks are a type of security exploit where an attacker analyzes the time it takes for a system to respond to different inputs. By measuring these response times, the attacker can infer sensitive information, such as cryptographic keys or passwords. This method relies on the fact that variations in processing time can reveal clues about the underlying data being processed. These attacks often target systems that perform operations with different execution times based on the input. For example, if a system takes longer to process a correct password than an incorrect one, an attacker can use this information to guess the password more efficiently. Effective countermeasures include implementing constant-time algorithms and adding random delays to responses.