Which statement is true of phishing?
a. It involves monitoring and recording keystrokes.
b. It consists of self-propagating program/codetriggered by a specified time or event.
c. It prevents the disclosure of information to anyone not authorized to access it.
d. It involves sending fraudulent e-mails thatseem/to come from legitimate sources.
The correct answer and explanation is :
The correct answer is:
d. It involves sending fraudulent e-mails that seem to come from legitimate sources.
Explanation:
Phishing is a type of cyberattack that aims to deceive individuals into providing sensitive personal information, such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, or other private data. It primarily involves fraudulent emails or messages that appear to come from trusted or legitimate sources, such as banks, government agencies, or popular online services. These emails often contain urgent requests, claiming that the recipient needs to verify their account information or reset their password, along with links to fake websites that mimic the legitimate ones. When users click these links and input their details, the attackers can steal this information for malicious purposes, such as identity theft or financial fraud.
Phishing can also be carried out via other communication methods, such as text messages (known as smishing) or voice calls (known as vishing), but email phishing is the most common method. The key characteristic of phishing is the attempt to trick the victim into thinking that the communication is from a legitimate, trustworthy source, when in fact, it is malicious.
Here’s why the other options are incorrect:
- a. It involves monitoring and recording keystrokes: This describes keylogging, not phishing. Keyloggers are software programs designed to capture the keystrokes of a user to collect sensitive information. Phishing, on the other hand, relies on deception rather than monitoring keystrokes.
- b. It consists of self-propagating program/code triggered by a specified time or event: This describes worms or viruses, not phishing. Worms can spread automatically across networks, whereas phishing attacks involve social engineering tactics, often through emails.
- c. It prevents the disclosure of information to anyone not authorized to access it: This describes encryption or data security measures, not phishing. Phishing, in contrast, aims to expose sensitive information by tricking the victim.
In summary, phishing is a social engineering attack, usually conducted via email, where fraudsters impersonate trustworthy sources to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information.