What is the primary goal of social engineering attacks?

The primary goal of social engineering attacks is to harvest sensitive information from individuals. Social engineering exploits the human element of security, relying on psychological manipulation to trick individuals into providing confidential data, such as passwords, personal identification numbers, or other private information.

Attackers often pose as trusted entities, which can create a sense of urgency or fear causing the target to act quickly without considering the legitimacy of the request. This method is particularly effective because it sidesteps traditional security measures, bypassing technological defenses by leveraging human trust and naivety.

While other options might involve aspects of security attacks, they do not address the fundamental objective of social engineering, which is specifically aimed at collecting personal and sensitive information directly from individuals.