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Social Engineering Attacks

Social Engineering refers to a wide variety of false advertising that is carried out through manipulating human relationships to achieve their goals. It employs psychological manipulation to fool users into making security errors or handing up critical information. An attack vector known as social engineering heavily depends on human interaction. We will see what are Social Engineering Attack and what are its Prevention tips, so read this blog till the end.

It typically entails manipulating people into breaching standard security procedures. Best practices for gaining unauthorized access to networks, physical locations, and systems or for financial gain. Social engineering can be thought of as a form of psychological warfare.

Types of Social Engineering Attacks

Baiting

An adversary plants a piece of hardware infected with malware in a specific location, making it more likely to be discovered. The victim then takes possession of the device, puts it into their computer, and inadvertently begins installing the malicious software.

Phishing

When a hostile entity sends an email disguised as a valid email, frequently pretending to be from a trustworthy source, this is an example of phishing. The receiver of the message is intended to be duped into revealing sensitive financial or personal information or clicking on a link that would install malicious software.

Targeted email scamming

This is similar to phishing, with the difference being that the assault is aimed at a particular person or group.

Vishing

Vishing is a sort of social engineering conducted over the phone and known as voice phishing. The goal of vishing is to get the victim’s sensitive personal or financial information.

Whaling

A kind of phishing assault known as a whale attack targets high-profile personnel. Such as the chief executive officer or chief financial officer, to deceive the employee into disclosing confidential information.

Example of Social Engineering Attack

The Greeks won the Trojan War by hiding in a wooden horse handed to the Trojan army as a token of peace. Most renowned social engineering assault. In modern times, Frank Abagnale is thought to be one of the most knowledgeable people about social engineering. 

He posed as at least eight people in the 1960s, including an airline pilot, lawyer, or doctor. During this time, Abagnale also made fake checks. After prison, he worked as an FBI security consultant and launched his financial fraud firm. 

Catch Me If You Can be made famous for his adventures as a teenage con guy. Kevin Mitnick was once called the world’s most wanted hacker. He convinced a Motorola employee to give him the phone’s source code. In 1992, Mitnick evaded police. He hid in Denver. 

He feared the feds would pursue him. Mitnick hacked the Motorola MicroTAC Ultra Lite to conceal it from authorities. He attempted to modify the phone’s ID or prohibit mobile towers from connecting. Mitnick contacted Motorola for the device’s source code. 

Then, he tricked a Motorola worker into thinking he was a colleague and got that worker to send him the source code. Mitnick was caught in the end, and he got five years in prison for hacking. He is now worth a lot of money and has written several books about hacking and security. Mitnick is a sought-after speaker and runs Mitnick Security, a cybersecurity company.

The 2011 data breach

The 2011 data breach at security company RSA was a more recent example of a social engineering attack that worked. Over two days, the attacker sent two different phishing emails to small groups of RSA employees. 

The subject line of the emails was “2011 Recruitment Plan,” and an Excel file was attached. The spreadsheet had malicious code that, when the file was opened. Used a flaw in Adobe Flash to install a back door. 

Even though it was never said what information was stolen, RSA’s SecurID two-factor authentication (2FA) system was broken into, and the company spent about $66 million to fix it.

Prevention tips for Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering strategies are difficult to oppose because their cleverness is constantly growing. This is because they prey on human traits such as respect for authority, the desire to assist, and curiosity, to mention some. Your company and its workers have a variety of different options available to them to protect themselves against social engineering.

Investigate the source

If you get a message, you should always double-verify its origin to ensure that the person you are interacting with is, in fact, the person they claim to be. A request in an email seems odd or out of the ordinary, double-check the email address. 

If the sender is someone you have previously communicated with. Cross-check the address with valid emails received from the same sender. If the address checks out, then the request was sent by a legitimate sender. 

If someone calling from a company asks for sensitive information. You shouldn’t feel obligated to take their credentials at face value. Instead, you should look up the official number for the company that the person claims to be calling from and confirm whether or not the request is genuine.

Knowledge is power

It is a crucial step to ask yourself whether the source of any contact you get has the information you would expect them to have. Such as your complete name, date of birth, or address. For instance, many of these social engineering techniques involve impersonating a person in a position of authority. Such as an employee from a financial institution or a government agency.

When they make requests, however, they do not possess any of your information. They do not adhere to any protocol that an actual financial institution or government agency employee would. Such as asking security questions before making any privileged changes to your account. 

Therefore, being acquainted with the communication styles used by the genuine bank. Government staff might help you spot efforts at social engineering.

Slow it down

Attackers that use social engineering strategies to influence their victims successfully depend on a sense of urgency. Whenever they make a request, it will often come with a warning about the repercussions if they cannot fulfill that request within a given time. 

It is imperative that whenever you receive an email with a suspicious request. You take time to do your due diligence to ensure that you are not falling for a social engineering tactic. Attackers add this urgency to their messaging to ensure that their victims do not take the time to think through their requests.

Privacy for Social Engineering Attack!

Research is essential to any social engineering assault that is going to be effective. Attackers will scour the internet for any information they can get on their target. The attacker will use this information to strengthen their attack. For example, they may look at your social media for personal details that may help them create a convincing character or story to manipulate their victims. 

The attacker will use this information to strengthen their attack. Therefore, you must exercise caution about the news that you publish online and the people who have access to see your online accounts. It is essential to have good privacy settings on your social media accounts. 

You should also ensure that the information you share online, such as an online resume, contains the appropriate information. For instance, if you include your email address, mobile number, or date of birth in your online resume. An attacker has more information to use against you in their social engineering strategies.

Educate

Staying one step ahead of hackers is the most effective way to protect yourself from social engineering assaults. To do this, people need to educate themselves on the many sorts of social engineering assaults that are often used and how attackers act. 

By engaging in such activities, you may improve your ability to recognize efforts at social engineering that get through your primary lines of defense, such as the spam filter on your email.