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A privilege escalation attack occurs when an attacker gains elevated permissions or access beyond what is normally allowed for a user. In this scenario, Benjamin's actions indicate that he successfully exploited vulnerabilities in the system to elevate his access privileges, allowing him to enter restricted areas of the network. This type of attack typically involves leveraging an existing legitimate account or exploiting security flaws to gain unauthorized access to that higher level of permissions, making it a specific and often targeted form of cyberattack.

In contrast, an external attack generally refers to methods where attackers originate from outside an organization, attempting to breach defenses, while an internal attack involves actions taken by someone within the organization who may exploit their access for harmful purposes. Intellectual property theft involves the unauthorized access or theft of proprietary information, which may or may not include privilege escalation as part of that process but is not specifically focused on the act of gaining elevated access rights. Thus, the nature of Benjamin's actions distinctly aligns with that of a privilege escalation attack.