This SY0-701 practice question tests your understanding of threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A finance manager gets a phone call from someone claiming to be the CEO's assistant, urgently requesting a wire transfer before a board meeting. What type of attack is this?
Smishing
Why wrong: Smishing is phishing conducted through text messages, not through a voice call.
Vishing
This is a phone-based social engineering attempt that uses urgency and impersonation.
Spear phishing
Why wrong: Spear phishing usually refers to targeted email or message-based lures, not this voice call.
Watering-hole attack
Why wrong: Watering-hole attacks compromise a site the target visits, which is not happening here.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Vishing
B is correct because vishing (voice phishing) uses a phone call to socially engineer the victim into performing a sensitive action, such as a wire transfer. The attacker impersonates a trusted authority (the CEO's assistant) and exploits urgency to bypass normal verification procedures. This is distinct from text-based phishing (smishing) or targeted email attacks (spear phishing).
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Smishing
Why it's wrong here
Smishing is phishing conducted through text messages, not through a voice call.
Vishing
Why this is correct
This is a phone-based social engineering attempt that uses urgency and impersonation.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Spear phishing
Why it's wrong here
Spear phishing usually refers to targeted email or message-based lures, not this voice call.
Watering-hole attack
Why it's wrong here
Watering-hole attacks compromise a site the target visits, which is not happening here.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse the delivery method (phone call) with the attack type, often choosing 'spear phishing' because the target is a specific individual, but the defining characteristic is the voice channel, not the targeting precision.
Detailed technical explanation
Vishing often leverages VoIP technology to spoof caller ID (e.g., using SIP trunking or PBX manipulation) to display a trusted number. Attackers may also use social engineering to extract multi-factor authentication codes or payment details, bypassing technical controls like email filters. In real-world scenarios, vishing is frequently combined with business email compromise (BEC) to create a multi-channel attack.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
An employee at a financial services firm receives an email that appears to come from the IT helpdesk, asking them to reset their password via a link. The link leads to a convincing fake portal that harvests credentials. Security teams use phishing simulations and security-awareness training to reduce this attack vector. Questions like this test whether you can identify social engineering techniques and appropriate controls.
What to study next
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FAQ
Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations — This question tests Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Vishing — B is correct because vishing (voice phishing) uses a phone call to socially engineer the victim into performing a sensitive action, such as a wire transfer. The attacker impersonates a trusted authority (the CEO's assistant) and exploits urgency to bypass normal verification procedures. This is distinct from text-based phishing (smishing) or targeted email attacks (spear phishing).
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This SY0-701 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 SY0-701 exam.
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