John used to work as a Network Administrator for We-are-secure Inc. Now he has resigned from the
company for personal reasons. He wants to send out some secret information of the company. To do
so, he takes an image file and simply uses a tool image hide and embeds the secret file within an
image file of the famous actress, Jennifer Lopez, and sends it to his Yahoo mail id. Since he is using
the image file to send the data, the mail server of his company is unable to filter this mail. Which of
the following techniques is he performing to accomplish his task?
A.
Email spoofing
B.
Social engineering
C.
Web ripping
D.
Steganography
Explanation:
According to the scenario, John is performing the Steganography technique for sending
malicious data. Steganography is an art and science of
hiding information by embedding harmful messages within other seemingly harmless messages. It
works by replacing bits of unused data,
such as graphics, sound, text, and HTML, with bits of invisible information in regular computer files.
This hidden information can be in the form
of plain text, cipher text, or even in the form of images.
Answer option C is incorrect. Web ripping is a technique in which the attacker copies the whole
structure of a Web site to the local disk and
obtains all files of the Web site. Web ripping helps an attacker to trace the loopholes of the Web
site.
Answer option B is incorrect. Social engineering is the art of convincing people and making them
disclose useful information such as account
names and passwords. This information is further exploited by hackers to gain access to a user’s
computer or network. This method involves
mental ability of the people to trick someone rather than their technical skills. A user should always
distrust people who ask him for his
account name or password, computer name, IP address, employee ID, or other information that can
be misused.
Answer option A is incorrect. John is not performing email spoofing. In email spoofing, an attacker
sends emails after writing another person’s
mailing address in the from field of the email id.