An organization’s help desk receives a call from a person claiming to be an employee...

This is an example ofsocial engineering, where attackers manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security. In this case, the fraudulent caller convinced the help desk to disclose sensitive employee data.

Man-in-the-middle attacks involve intercepting communication between parties, escalation of privilege involves gaining higher access rights, and internal threats come from legitimate insiders. None of these fit the situation as accurately as social engineering.

Social engineering exploits human trust rather than technical vulnerabilities. Common tactics include phishing, pretexting, and phone-based fraud (vishing). Preventing such threats requires strong identity verification processes, employee awareness training, and layered authentication mechanisms. By recognizing the human element as a weak point, organizations can better prepare staff to resist manipulative tactics.