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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · The impact of advances in technology

A retailer's finance team receives an email that appears to come from the chief executive. It urgently asks for a change to a supplier's bank details and for an immediate payment. The email address is slightly different from the genuine one. Which type of cyber threat does this MOST likely represent?

This is phishing. The email impersonates the chief executive using a near-identical address and applies urgency to trick finance staff into changing bank details and paying. It is not denial-of-service, which overloads systems, nor ransomware, which encrypts files and demands a ransom for their release.

  1. AA denial-of-service attack, which overloads the company's systems so that authorised users cannot access them
  2. BPhishing, which uses a deceptive message impersonating a trusted person to trick staff into disclosing information or making paymentsCorrect
  3. CRansomware, which encrypts the company's files and demands payment before access is restored

Explanation

An email imitating a senior executive, using a near-identical address to prompt an urgent payment, is a classic phishing (impersonation) attempt. A denial-of-service attack floods systems to block access, and nothing here does that. Ransomware involves encrypting data and demanding a ransom, which is not described.

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