Social engineering is one of the biggest cyber crimes being committed in the world of cybersecurity today. It has caught the attention of technology professionals as well as businesses and the general public. Due to a lack of knowledge and negligence, it is estimated that billions of dollars have been lost to cybercrimes like social engineering, and some of that money can never be recovered. In this article, I will explain to you everything you need to know about social engineering, I will also include some examples of social engineering attacks and ways you can prevent yourself from such attacks.
Social engineering refers to the practice of deceiving or manipulating someone into giving up confidential or personal information in order to gain access to their computer system or electronic device. The attacker may use emails, text messages, or even direct contact to acquire sensitive data. Phishing, spear phishing, and CEO fraud are all examples of social engineering.
There are several common methods used in social engineering attacks that you need to be aware of for prevention purposes:
This is one of the most commonly used social engineering attacks by hackers. The hacker tries to acquire confidential information, and credentials such as usernames, passwords, or credit card details through a trustworthy entity such as an email that consists of spam filters. The email could be from the bank, links from well-known websites, IT administrators, and even auction sites and they require you to perform certain tasks. It has become one of the most illegal activities being done by black hat hackers.
The hacker invents a fake scenario or motive to engage the victim in an attempt to get more information. Often involves some real knowledge of the target like date of birth or SSN to appear more legitimate.
In a spear phishing attack, the cybercriminal uses personal details to make the communication more believable. An employee may receive an email seeming to be from the company president requesting an urgent wire transfer, for example. If the target isn't aware of the scam tactics, they are more likely to comply.
Baiting takes advantage of human curiosity. The attacker leaves infected USB drives labeled with enticing filenames like "Employee Salaries" in public places. When an unsuspecting user plugs it in, the malware quickly infects their computer and spreads through the network.
This ****is the act of tricking the victim by making a conversation or communication source secure when it is not. Spoofing can be in the form of websites, calls, texts, messages, and emails. IP addresses tend to be vulnerable to this type of social engineering attack.
The attacker first researches websites frequented by the target organization and looks for potential vulnerabilities. When a weakness is found, they infect the site with malware so that members who visit get compromised. The malware then provides access to the internal network.