eBay is an example of an online company that has been faced with numerous security issues. For example, imagine you purchase a digital camera on eBay. Three months later you might receive an email asking you to log in to the system to update your credit card or PayPal information. Of course, this email is not actually from eBay and as soon as you log in your information will be stolen. What type of information security breach would you consider this to be?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To analyze the scenario, I will evaluate what each option commonly means in information security.
Option 1: Phishing. This describes emails or messages that appear to come from a legitimate organization (here, eBay) and prompt the user to provide sensitive information by logging into a fake portal. The goal is to steal credentials or payment data, which matches the described situation where clicking a fraudulent link leads to stolen information. This option correctly captures the breach type.
Option 2: An Insider. An insider breach involves someone within the organization who has legitimate access and misuses it, such as an employee stealing data or credentials. In the scenario, the attacker impersonates the legitimate site via email rather than abusing internal access, so this is not an insider breach.
Option 3: Social Engineering. Social engineering is the broader discipline of manipulating people to reveal confidential information. While the scenario is indeed a social engineering tactic (phishing is a form of social engineering), the term Phishing specifically identifies the concrete method used (a deceptive email directing users to a fraudulent login). Therefore, calling it simply social engineering would be accurate but less precise in this context.
Option 4: Dumpster Diving. Dumpster diving refers to retrieving discarded physical materials (like papers with login details) from trash to obtain information. The described attack is digital and involves email phishing, not physical data recovery, so this option is not applicable.
In summary, the scenario aligns best with phishing, a targeted form of social engineering that uses deceptive emails to steal login credentials and payment information from victims. The other options either describe a different breach type or are too broad or inapplicable to the described email-based attack.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS CIS 3010-16 (93684) Final Exam 12/11/25 - SH 358A 12:00 - 1:15 pm

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