Can the "ping" command test the validity of an IP address?

The "ping" command can, in most cases, test the validity of an IP address. This command checks if an IP address is capable of receiving network traffic without errors.

Some websites, such as Microsoft.com, place restrictions on pinging its IP addresses. As a result, the ping command won't work on all IP addresses.

Companies forbid pinging its servers for security reasons. Protecting against denial of service attacks is one example. Denial of service attacks work by flooding servers with an abnormally high number of requests, such as pings. These attacks can cause network-performance issues, such as high response times, data-packet loss or even complete server failure.