What was the result of the social engineering attack described in the notes?

• A. The receptionist's password was changed.
• B. The receptionist's machine got infected with malware.
• C. No impact occurred.
• D. An unrelated system reboot happened.

Answer: (B)

Social engineering hinges on getting a person to take an action that bypasses normal security, often by convincing them to run malicious software or grant remote access. In the notes, the attacker successfully manipulated the receptionist, resulting in malware being installed on her machine. That infection gives the attacker a foothold to explore the network, steal information, or pivot to other systems, which is the concrete, immediate consequence of a successful social engineering attack. The other outcomes—changing a password, no impact, or an unrelated reboot—don’t match what typically happens when the attacker succeeds by exploiting human trust through deception.