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Difficulty: EasySocial Engineering Attacks and Vectors

An executive assistant receives a tailored email that appears to come directly from the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The message insists on an urgent, confidential wire transfer to secure an enterprise acquisition before the end of the business day. Which of the following social engineering attack vectors best describes this incident?

  1. WhalingAnswer
  2. B
    Vishing
  3. C
    Watering hole attack
  4. D
    Smishing

Answer

Whaling
Whaling is a specialized subset of phishing that specifically targets or impersonates high-ranking corporate executives (such as CEOs or CFOs) to conduct high-value financial transactions or gain access to sensitive corporate data.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the communication medium and target profile in the scenario.
The attack uses email to impersonate an executive leadership role (CEO) targeting high-value financial fraud.
Determining the medium (email) and the high-profile context narrows down the specific social engineering variant.
2
Map the scenario attributes to social engineering attack definitions.
Email spoofing that specifically impersonates top-level executives for high-stakes fraud matches the definition of whaling.
Whaling is distinguished from generic phishing by its focus on senior executive targets or senior executive impersonation.

Key Concept

Whaling Social Engineering Vector
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Topics

Social Engineering Attacks and Vectors

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