Which of the following is an example of social engineering?

Phishing is a prime example of social engineering because it involves manipulating individuals into providing sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, or financial details, through deceptive communications. Typically conducted via email, phishing schemes often impersonate trustworthy entities to gain the victim's trust, leading to unintentional information sharing or clicking on malicious links.

This technique relies heavily on psychological manipulation rather than exploiting technical vulnerabilities, which is central to social engineering. The goal is to exploit human behavior, leveraging trust and curiosity to trick individuals into divulging confidential information.

In contrast, the other options—SQL Injection, DoS attacks, and malware installation—are primarily technical threats that do not involve the direct manipulation of human behavior as their main strategy. SQL Injection, for example, targets databases by exploiting code vulnerabilities, while DoS attacks disrupt service availability through overwhelming traffic. Similarly, malware installation typically focuses on infecting systems through software vulnerabilities or user action rather than the psychological manipulation of individuals.