Which term describes a malicious attack that looks legitimate, used to trick users into providing sensitive information or installing malware?

Which term describes a malicious attack that looks legitimate, used to trick users into providing sensitive information or installing malware?

• A. Phishing
• B. Penetration Testing
• C. Patch
• D. Patent

Answer: (A)

Phishing is a social engineering attack in which the attacker pretends to be a legitimate entity to trick people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware. This deception is the hallmark of phishing, aiming to exploit trust rather than technical flaws in software. Why this fits best: it describes an attack that looks legitimate to fool users into taking harmful actions or surrendering data, which is exactly what phishing is designed to do. Penetration testing is a legitimate security assessment conducted with authorization to find and fix vulnerabilities, not to deceive users into giving up information. A patch is a software update that fixes a vulnerability. A patent is a legal protection for an invention. None of these describe the deceptive, user-targeted nature of phishing.

Phishing is a social engineering attack in which the attacker pretends to be a legitimate entity to trick people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware. This deception is the hallmark of phishing, aiming to exploit trust rather than technical flaws in software.

Why this fits best: it describes an attack that looks legitimate to fool users into taking harmful actions or surrendering data, which is exactly what phishing is designed to do.

Penetration testing is a legitimate security assessment conducted with authorization to find and fix vulnerabilities, not to deceive users into giving up information. A patch is a software update that fixes a vulnerability. A patent is a legal protection for an invention. None of these describe the deceptive, user-targeted nature of phishing.