200-201 Security Concepts Practice Question
A security analyst is investigating an incident where an employee received an email that appeared to be from the company's IT department, requesting the employee to verify their account by clicking a link and entering their credentials. The employee complied, and later the attacker used those credentials to access the corporate VPN. Which combination of attack types best describes this incident?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Spear phishing and credential theft
The email is a social engineering technique known as phishing. Since it targeted a specific employee with a tailored message (IT department), it is spear phishing. The attacker then used the credentials to access the VPN, which is a direct use of the stolen information, not a separate attack like MitM.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Pretexting and privilege escalation
Why it's wrong here
Pretexting involves a fabricated scenario, but the attacker did not escalate privileges afterward.
- ✗
Phishing and man-in-the-middle
Why it's wrong here
There is no evidence of man-in-the-middle; the attacker directly used the credentials.
- ✓
Spear phishing and credential theft
Why this is correct
Spear phishing is the targeted email; credential theft is the result.
- ✗
Vishing and brute force
Why it's wrong here
Vishing is voice phishing; no voice was used. Brute force was not attempted.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 200-201 exam.