A help desk employee receives a call from someone impersonating the Chief Executive Officer. The caller asks for assistance with resetting a password. Which of the following best describes this event?

Question

Options

• AVishing
• BHacktivism
• CBlackmail
• DMisinformation

• A
  87% (20)
• B
  9% (2)
• D
  4% (1)

Explanation

Vishing (Voice Phishing) is the correct answer because this scenario describes a phone-based social engineering attack where an attacker impersonates an authority figure (the CEO) to manipulate a help desk employee into performing a sensitive action - resetting a password. The "v" in vishing stands for "voice," and the defining characteristics are present: a phone call, impersonation, and manipulation to gain unauthorized access.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• B. Hacktivism is hacking motivated by political or social causes - there's no ideology implied here, just credential theft.
• C. Blackmail involves threatening someone to extort money or compliance - the caller is deceiving, not threatening.
• D. Misinformation refers to spreading false information publicly - this is a targeted, private deception for access, not a disinformation campaign.

Memory tip: Think "V = Voice = Vishing." If the attack uses a phone call to impersonate someone and trick an employee, it's vishing. If it were an email, it would be phishing - same manipulation, different channel.

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