A user, Ann, receives a call from Joe who states that he is brand new in the help desk. Joe states that he needs to update Ann's email client to prevent corruption. At Joe's request, Ann discloses…

The correct answer is A. Social engineering. This is a textbook social engineering attack - specifically pretexting. The attacker (fake Joe) fabricated a believable scenario (new help desk employee needing to update software) to manipulate Ann into voluntarily surrendering her credentials. Social engineering exploits…

Networking

Question

A user, Ann, receives a call from Joe who states that he is brand new in the help desk. Joe states that he needs to update Ann's email client to prevent corruption. At Joe's request, Ann discloses her user name and password. She later discovers that Joe is not a member of the help desk. Which of the following has occurred?

Options

ASocial engineering
BPhishing
CSpear phishing
DHijacking

How the community answered

(16 responses)

A
88% (14)
B
6% (1)
D
6% (1)

Explanation

This is a textbook social engineering attack - specifically pretexting. The attacker (fake Joe) fabricated a believable scenario (new help desk employee needing to update software) to manipulate Ann into voluntarily surrendering her credentials. Social engineering exploits human trust rather than technical vulnerabilities. Phishing and spear phishing are email-based attacks with malicious links or attachments. Hijacking refers to taking over an existing authenticated session. Because the attack vector here is a phone call and psychological manipulation, social engineering is the correct classification.

Topics

#social engineering#impersonation#credential theft#security awareness

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