ISC2 CC Security Operations Practice Question
An employee receives an email from the CEO asking for an urgent wire transfer to a new vendor. The email address is slightly misspelled. What type of 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
This is a social engineering attack, specifically phishing (or business email compromise), aiming to trick the employee into transferring money.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Shoulder surfing
Why it's wrong here
Shoulder surfing is observing someone's screen.
- ✗
USB drop attack
Why it's wrong here
USB drop involves leaving infected USB drives.
- ✗
Tailgating
Why it's wrong here
Tailgating is physical access, not email-based.
- ✓
Phishing
Why this is correct
Correct. Phishing uses deceptive emails to elicit actions.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
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.
Key term
Social engineering
Social engineering is the psychological manipulation of people into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security.
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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.