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Difficulty: HardSocial Engineering and Threat Types

A helpdesk technician is reviewing a security ticket submitted by a finance manager. The manager received a text message on her mobile phone appearing to come from the company's banking vendor, warning that the organization's payroll account would be locked within 30 minutes due to unverified compliance documentation. The message contained a hyperlink prompting her to log in immediately. Which of the following social engineering attack vectors describes this initial contact method?

  1. SmishingAnswer
  2. B
    Vishing
  3. C
    Spear phishing
  4. D
    Watering hole attack

Answer

The correct attack vector is smishing, as it specifically utilizes SMS text messaging on mobile devices to deliver deceptive phishing links.
Smishing refers specifically to phishing attacks conducted over Short Message Service (SMS) text messages. The scenario describes an urgent text message sent to a cellular device containing a fraudulent link designed to harvest banking credentials.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the delivery medium described in the scenario.
The initial contact occurred via a text message sent to a mobile phone.
Identifying the transmission channel is necessary to distinguish between social engineering classifications.
2
Evaluate threat classification terminology based on delivery medium.
Phishing over Short Message Service (SMS) is classified as smishing.
Standard security taxonomy distinguishes SMS-based attacks (smishing) from voice-based (vishing) and email-based (phishing/spear phishing) attacks.

Key Concept

Social Engineering Delivery Vectors (Smishing vs. Vishing vs. Phishing)
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Topics

Social Engineering and Threat Types

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