An attacker gained access to the hosts file on an endpoint and modified it. Now, a user is redirected from the company's home page to a fraudulent website. Which of the following most likely happened?
Correct Answer: A
When the hosts file is altered, local name resolution is compromised, and domain queries are redirected to malicious IP addresses. This is a form of DNS spoofing/poisoning, where false mappings trick users into visiting fraudulent websites.
B). Phishing typically uses emails or messages to trick users, not local file modification.
C). VLAN hopping is a Layer 2 attack to gain unauthorized network access, unrelated to DNS.
D). ARP poisoning manipulates ARP tables on a LAN to reroute traffic, not name resolution.
References (CompTIA Network+ N10-009):
Domain: Network Security - DNS poisoning/spoofing, host file manipulation, endpoint attacks.