Acquiring access to another account's files is an example of which concept?

Acquiring access to another account's files is an example of which concept?

• A. Vertical Privilege Escalation
• B. UAC
• C. Tunneling virus
• D. Horizontal Privilege Escalation

Answer: (D)

Gaining access to another account’s files is horizontal privilege escalation. It means you’re breaking through access controls to reach resources owned by a different user at the same level of authority, rather than boosting your own privileges. You’re not becoming more powerful—you’re just accessing data you shouldn’t have because another account’s data isn’t properly isolated. Vertical privilege escalation would be moving from a lower privilege level to a higher one (for example, standard user to administrator), which isn’t what’s happening here. UAC is a Windows control that prompts for elevation but doesn’t describe the act of accessing another account’s files. A tunneling virus is malware that hides traffic in a tunnel and isn’t about accessing another account’s resources at the same level. In practice, horizontal escalation often stems from weak or misconfigured access controls, allowing one user to read or modify another user’s files without increasing privileges.

Gaining access to another account’s files is horizontal privilege escalation. It means you’re breaking through access controls to reach resources owned by a different user at the same level of authority, rather than boosting your own privileges. You’re not becoming more powerful—you’re just accessing data you shouldn’t have because another account’s data isn’t properly isolated.

Vertical privilege escalation would be moving from a lower privilege level to a higher one (for example, standard user to administrator), which isn’t what’s happening here. UAC is a Windows control that prompts for elevation but doesn’t describe the act of accessing another account’s files. A tunneling virus is malware that hides traffic in a tunnel and isn’t about accessing another account’s resources at the same level.

In practice, horizontal escalation often stems from weak or misconfigured access controls, allowing one user to read or modify another user’s files without increasing privileges.