CompTIA Security+ (SY0-501) — Question 269

An employee in the finance department receives an email, which appears to come from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), instructing the employee to immediately wire a large sum of money to a vendor. Which of the following BEST describes the principles of social engineering used? (Choose two.)

Answer options

• A. Familiarity
• B. Scarcity
• C. Urgency
• D. Authority
• E. Consensus

Correct answer: C, D

Explanation

The correct answers are C and D because the email employs a sense of Urgency by instructing immediate action and Authority by pretending to come from a high-ranking official like the CFO. The other options, Familiarity, Scarcity, and Consensus, do not apply to this situation as they are not leveraged in the context of this email request.