An attacker forces an internal company employee to inject malware into corporate systems under threat of publishing the employee ' s sensitive personal files. Which of the following best describes the attacker ' s motivation in this type of attack?
Blackmail is the correct motivation because the attacker is coercing the employee by threatening to release sensitive personal files. The attacker is not simply seeking money directly, so financial gain is not the best description. Revenge would involve retaliation for a perceived grievance, but the scenario describes coercion. Espionage involves stealing information for political, corporate, or strategic advantage, which is not the primary driver here. This is a social engineering and insider-risk scenario because an external attacker pressures an internal employee into performing malicious activity. Security+ expects candidates to recognize attacker motivations such as financial gain, ideology, espionage, revenge, and blackmail based on the pressure or incentive being used.
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