ISC2 CC Security Operations Practice Question
An employee receives an email from an unknown sender claiming to be from the IT department, asking for their password to perform an urgent system update. What type of social engineering attack is this?
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
✓
Phishing
Phishing is a social engineering attack where attackers impersonate legitimate entities to trick victims into revealing sensitive information.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Phishing
Why this is correct
Phishing uses deceptive emails to obtain sensitive information.
- ✗
Tailgating
Why it's wrong here
Tailgating involves physically following someone into a restricted area.
- ✗
USB drop attack
Why it's wrong here
USB drop attacks involve leaving infected USB drives for victims to find.
- ✗
Piggybacking
Why it's wrong here
Piggybacking is similar to tailgating but implies consent.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Logical Access Controls
Key term
Social engineering
Social engineering is the psychological manipulation of people into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security.
Key term
Phishing
Phishing is a type of cyber attack where criminals impersonate legitimate organizations or individuals to trick victims into revealing sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, or personal data.
About these practice questions
One of 976 original CC practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CC practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CC exam.