A technician sends an email to an employee in the finance office telling them they need to change their password right away. The technician then walks into the employee's office to observe as the…

The correct answer is A. Shoulder surfing. Shoulder surfing is the practice of directly observing someone's screen, keyboard, or keypad to steal sensitive information such as passwords or PINs. In this scenario, the technician orchestrated a pretext (the urgent email) to create an opportunity to physically watch the…

Hardware and network troubleshooting

Question

A technician sends an email to an employee in the finance office telling them they need to change their password right away. The technician then walks into the employee's office to observe as the password is being changed. Later, the employee in the finance office reports that their password was compromised. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Options

AShoulder surfing
BMalware
CPhishing
DSPAM

How the community answered

(25 responses)

A
72% (18)
B
8% (2)
C
16% (4)
D
4% (1)

Explanation

Shoulder surfing is the practice of directly observing someone's screen, keyboard, or keypad to steal sensitive information such as passwords or PINs. In this scenario, the technician orchestrated a pretext (the urgent email) to create an opportunity to physically watch the employee type their new password - a textbook shoulder surfing attack. This also involves elements of social engineering. Malware (B) and Phishing (C) are not consistent with the physical observation described. Spam (D) is unsolicited email and plays no role in the compromise described.

Topics

#shoulder surfing#social engineering#password compromise#physical observation attack

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