ISC2 CC Security Operations Practice Question
An employee receives an email that appears to be from the CEO requesting an urgent wire transfer to a new vendor. The email contains several grammatical errors and the sender's address is slightly misspelled. What type of security incident 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 attack
This is a social engineering attack, specifically phishing (or CEO fraud), where the attacker impersonates a trusted figure to trick the employee.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
USB drop attack
Why it's wrong here
USB drop attacks involve leaving infected USB drives.
- ✗
Tailgating incident
Why it's wrong here
Tailgating is unauthorized physical access by following someone.
- ✗
Password attack
Why it's wrong here
There is no attempt to steal passwords in this scenario.
- ✓
Phishing attack
Why this is correct
The email is fraudulent and attempts to deceive the employee.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Security Principles
Key term
Social engineering
Social engineering is the psychological manipulation of people into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security.
Key term
Incident
An incident is a security event that violates an organization's policies or threatens its data, systems, or operations, requiring a structured response.
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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.