Security attacks can vary greatly. Which type of attack is characterized as an attempt to trick an individual into revealing confidential or private information?

The correct answer is D. Social engineering. Social engineering is the technique of manipulating or deceiving individuals into voluntarily disclosing confidential information - it exploits human psychology rather than technical vulnerabilities, making it the only option that specifically targets a person's trust or…

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Question

Options

ATrojan
BSpoofing
CMan in the middle
DSocial engineering

How the community answered

(31 responses)

A
3% (1)
B
6% (2)
D
90% (28)

Explanation

Social engineering is the technique of manipulating or deceiving individuals into voluntarily disclosing confidential information - it exploits human psychology rather than technical vulnerabilities, making it the only option that specifically targets a person's trust or behavior.

The distractors each describe technical attack methods, not human manipulation: a Trojan (A) is malicious software disguised as legitimate software; spoofing (B) involves forging a sender's identity (email, IP, etc.) to appear trustworthy; and a man-in-the-middle (C) attack intercepts communication between two parties without their knowledge.

Memory tip: Think of social engineering as "engineering a social interaction" - an attacker engineers a conversation or scenario to trick a human, not a machine. If the attack targets a person's mind, it's social engineering.

Topics

#Social Engineering#Security Threats#Information Disclosure#Attack Types

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