An organization is the victim of an attack in which an attacker gains unauthorized access to a computer to steal information and forward it via the…

The scenario describes an attacker stealing information and then transferring it out of the organization's network. This action is known as data export or data exfiltration. The primary purpose is the unauthorized removal of sensitive data from a compromised system. The attacker's goal is to acquire the information itself, which is then sent to another location for analysis or malicious use. This directly aligns with the definition of data export, where the value lies in the stolen information.

A. Launch point: This involves using a compromised system to initiate further attacks against other targets, which is not the primary purpose described in the scenario.

B. Denial of availability: This attack's goal is to disrupt services and prevent legitimate users from accessing resources, not to steal information.

D. Data modification: This involves altering or destroying data on the compromised system. The scenario describes copying and sending data, not changing it.

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1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2020). Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations (NIST Special Publication 800-53

Revision 5). Page 378

Appendix F.

This document defines exfiltration as "The unauthorized transfer of information from an information system." This directly supports the correct answer

as the scenario describes stealing and forwarding information.

2. Grau

S.

& O'Brien

L. (2017). A Taxonomy of Data Exfiltration Attacks. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Availability

Reliability and Security (ARES '17). Association for Computing Machinery

New York

NY

USA

Article 33

1–6.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3098954.3098989

This academic paper categorizes and defines data exfiltration

stating its purpose is the "unauthorized copying

transfer or retrieval of data from a computer or server." This aligns perfectly with the question's scenario.

3. Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute. (2019). Common Sense Guide to Mitigating Insider Threats

6th Edition (CMU/SEI-2019-TR-003). Page 11.

This guide discusses data exfiltration as a key threat pattern

describing it as the theft of organizational data. It explicitly differentiates this from attacks intended to sabotage or modify systems.