Sandra, a hacker, targeted Johana, a software professional, to steal her banking details. She started sending frequent, random pop-up messages with…

The scenario describes a victim being redirected from a legitimate banking URL to a fraudulent

website without intending to visit it, after malware is installed on the system. This behavior is

characteristic of pharming, an attack in which an adversary causes redirection to a malicious

destination even when the user types the correct address or clicks a legitimate bookmark. In digital

forensics

, pharming is commonly achieved by manipulating name resolution or routing

mechanisms, such as altering the local hosts file, changing DNS server settings, poisoning DNS

responses, modifying browser proxy settings, or installing malware that intercepts and rewrites web

requests. The key forensic indicator is that the victim’s request for the real domain is transparently

diverted to attacker-controlled infrastructure, where credentials are harvested through a convincing

spoofed login page.

The other options do not match the redirection-and-fake-site mechanism. Tailgating is physical

access abuse (following someone into a secure area). Dumpster diving involves retrieving sensitive

information from discarded materials. Shoulder surfing is observing credentials by watching the

victim type. Because the essential action here is malicious redirection to a fake site to steal

credentials, the correct answer is Pharming (A).