What type of attack is it when an email from HR asks for your login credentials? Learn how phishing attacks use impersonation and social engineering to steal sensitive information—vital for the Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Cybersecurity 100-160 exam.
Table of Contents
Question
A user reports receiving an email from their company’s HR department asking for their login credentials to verify employment details. What type of attack is this?
A. Ransomware
B. DDoS attack
C. SQL injection
D. Phishing
E. Man-in-the-middle attack
Answer
D. Phishing
Explanation
Phishing attacks trick users into revealing sensitive information by pretending to be legitimate entities.
Phishing is a form of social engineering in which attackers impersonate trusted entities—such as a company’s HR department—to deceive users into revealing sensitive information like login credentials.
The attacker crafts an email that appears legitimate but is designed to trick the recipient into providing confidential data, such as usernames and passwords.
Phishing emails often use urgent or official-sounding language, request sensitive information, and may include links to fake websites or forms that harvest credentials.
This attack exploits human trust and organizational familiarity, making it highly effective and one of the most common methods used to compromise accounts and gain unauthorized access to systems.
Phishing attacks manipulate users into disclosing sensitive information by pretending to be a trusted source, such as HR, and are a leading cause of credential theft and data breaches.
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