Exam SY0-501 topic 1 question 2 discussion

Actual exam question from CompTIA's SY0-501

Question #: 2
Topic #: 1

HOTSPOT -
Select the appropriate attack from each drop down list to label the corresponding illustrated attack.
Instructions: Attacks may only be used once, and will disappear from drop down list if selected. When you have completed the simulation, please select the Done button to submit.
Hot Area:

Show Suggested Answer

Suggested Answer:

1: Spear phishing is an e-mail spoofing fraud attempt that targets a specific organization, seeking unauthorized access to confidential data. As with the e-mail messages used in regular phishing expeditions, spear phishing messages appear to come from a trusted source. Phishing messages usually appear to come from a large and well-known company or Web site with a broad membership base, such as eBay or PayPal. In the case of spear phishing, however, the apparent source of the e-mail is likely to be an individual within the recipient's own company and generally someone in a position of authority.
2: The Hoax in this question is designed to make people believe that the fake AV (anti- virus) software is genuine.
3: Vishing is the act of using the telephone in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The scammer usually pretends to be a legitimate business, and fools the victim into thinking he or she will profit.
4: Email spam, also referred to as junk email, is unsolicited messages sent in bulk by email (spamming).
5: Similar in nature to e-mail phishing, pharming seeks to obtain personal or private (usually financial related) information through domain spoofing. Rather than being spammed with malicious and mischievous e-mail requests for you to visit spoof Web sites which appear legitimate, pharming 'poisons' a DNS server by infusing false information into the DNS server, resulting in a user's request being redirected elsewhere. Your browser, however will show you are at the correct
Web site, which makes pharming a bit more serious and more difficult to detect. Phishing attempts to scam people one at a time with an e-mail while pharming allows the scammers to target large groups of people at one time through domain spoofing.
References:
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/spear-phishing http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/vishing.html http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/phishing.html http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/pharming.html

by newrose at Dec. 2, 2020, 3:59 a.m.

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Heymannicerouter

Highly Voted 4 years ago

First one is whaling, not spear phishing; "CEO and board members"

upvoted 10 times

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bdelude

Highly Voted 3 years, 12 months ago

This question is tricky and I agree outside of this test. But their definition of whaling is to go after a specific, i.e. one, target, while spear phishing goes after a targeted group. Since it's a CEO and board members, it is spear phishing.

upvoted 9 times

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nosavotor

Most Recent 1 year, 8 months ago

Im not sure how to respond to that

upvoted 1 times

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AnxiousKid

3 years, 11 months ago

On the first one, since the target is from the C suite or board of directors, it should be Whaling. Spear Phishing usually goes after a category of individuals with a lower profile. The correct answer on the first one should be "Whaling"

upvoted 2 times

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asimo

3 years, 11 months ago

Spear phishing is the fraudulent practice whereby emails are sent from a trusted sender in which people are targeted to give out some confidential information. But In whaling, the targets are high-ranking bankers, executives or others in powerful positions or job titles. First one is Whaling.

upvoted 4 times

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