Social Engineering & How to Prevent it

Although most cybercriminals are skilled manipulators, this does not mean that they are always skilled technological manipulators; other cybercriminals prefer the practice of manipulating people.

In other words, they embrace social engineering, which is the practice of launching a cyberattack by taking advantage of flaws in human nature.

In a straightforward case of social engineering, this could happen if a cybercriminal impersonates an IT expert and asks for your login details to fix a security hole in your system.

If you give the information, you’ve just given a bad person access to your account without them even having to worry about accessing your email or computer.

In every security chain, we are almost usually the weakest link since we are susceptible to a variety of trickery. Social engineering techniques leverage this vulnerability in people to trick victims into divulging private information.

Social engineering is always evolving, as are the majority of cyber threats.

In this article, we’ll discuss the current state of social engineering, different sorts of attacks to watch out for, and warning signs to look out for. 

Let’s begin the introduction to social engineering. 

What is Social Engineering?

Social engineering in computing refers to the techniques cyber criminals employ to persuade victims to do a dubious action, which frequently entails a security breach, the transmission of money, or the disclosure of personal information.

These activities frequently challenge logic and go against our better judgment.

However, fraudsters can convince us to stop thinking logically and start acting on instinct without thinking about what we’re actually doing by manipulating our emotions—both positive and negative—like rage, fear, and love.

Simply defined, social engineering is how hackers compromise our brains, just as they do with malware and viruses to compromise our machines.

Attackers frequently utilize social engineering because it is frequently simpler to take advantage of individuals than it is to identify a network or software weakness.

Because the criminals and their victims never have to interact in person, social engineering is always a component of a broader scam. 

Getting the victims to: is generally the major goal:

• Malicious software on their smartphone.
• Renounce your username and password.
• Give permission for a malicious plugin, extension, or third-party application.
• Send money through money order, an electronic fund transfer, or gift cards.
• Play the role of a money mule to transmit and launder illegal money.

Social engineering techniques are used by criminals because it is frequently simpler to take advantage of your inherent tendency to trust others than it is to figure out how to hack your program.

For instance, unless the password is really weak, it is considerably simpler to trick someone into telling you their password than it is to try to hack it.

How does social engineering work?

Social engineers carry out cyberattacks using a range of strategies. Most social engineering assaults begin with the attacker performing reconnaissance and research on the victim.

For instance, if the target is an enterprise, the hacker could learn about the company’s organizational structure, internal processes, industry jargon, potential business partners, and other details.

Focusing on the actions and habits of workers with low-level yet initial access, like a security guard or receptionist, is one strategy used by social engineers.

Attackers can search social media accounts for personal information and observe their behavior both online and in person.

The social engineer can next use the evidence collected to plan an assault and take advantage of the flaws discovered during the reconnaissance stage.

If indeed the attack takes place, the attacker could get protected systems or networks, money from the targets, or access to private data like Social Security numbers, credit card details, or banking details.

Common types of social engineering attacks

Learning about the typical techniques used in social engineering is one of the greatest strategies to defend yourself from a social engineering attack.

Nowadays, social engineering commonly occurs online, including through social media scams, when attackers assume the identity of a reliable source or a high-ranking official to trick victims into disclosing sensitive information.

Here are some other prevalent social engineering attacks:

Phishing

Phishing is a sort of social engineering approach in which communications are disguised so that they look to be from a trustworthy source.

These communications, which are frequently emails, are intended to dupe victims into disclosing personal or financial information.

After all, why should we suspect the legitimacy of an email from a friend, family member, or company we know? Scammers take advantage of this confidence.

Vishing

Vishing is a complex type of phishing assault. It is also known as “voice phishing.” In these assaults, a phone number is frequently faked to seem authentic – attackers may pose as IT staff, coworkers, or bankers.

Some attackers may employ voice changers to obscure their identities even more.

Spear phishing

Large companies or particular people are the targets of spear phishing, a sort of social engineering assault. The targets of spear phishing assaults are strong individuals or small groups, such as business leaders and public figures.

This form of social engineering attack is frequently well-researched and deceptively camouflaged, making it challenging to spot.

Smishing 

Smishing is a sort of phishing assault that utilizes text (SMS) messages as the medium of communication. By presenting harmful URLs to click or phone numbers to contact, these assaults typically demand rapid action from their victims.

The victims are frequently prompted to provide private information that the attackers can use against them.

In order to persuade victims to act swiftly and fall for the assault, smishing attacks frequently portray a sense of urgency.

Scareware

The use of social engineering to terrify individuals into installing phony security software or accessing malware-infected websites is known as scareware.

Scareware typically manifests as pop-up windows that offer to assist you in eradicating a purported computer infection from your laptop. By clicking the pop-up, you might unintentionally install further malware or be sent to a dangerous website.

Use a reliable virus eradication program to often scan your computer if you think you have scareware or another intrusive pop-up. It’s important for digital hygiene to periodically examine your device for risks.

It might also assist in protecting your personal information by preventing future social engineering assaults.

Baiting

Social engineering attacks can also begin offline; they are not necessarily launched online.

Baiting is the practice of an attacker leaving a malware-infected object, such as a USB drive, somewhere where it is likely to be discovered. These devices are frequently branded on purpose to spark interest.

A user who picks up the gadget and puts it into their own computer out of curiosity or greed risks unintentionally infecting that machine with a virus.

Whaling

One of the most daring phishing attempts, with disastrous results, is whaling. The typical target of this kind of social engineering attack is a single, high-value person.

The term “CEO fraud” is occasionally used to describe whaling, which gives you an indication of the target.

Because they effectively assume a suitable businesslike tone of speech and make use of insider industry knowledge to their advantage, whaling assaults are more difficult to spot than other phishing attacks.

Pre-texting

Pretexting is the process of fabricating a false circumstance, or “pretext,” that con artists employ to deceive their victims.

Pretexting assaults, which may occur offline or online, are among the most successful social engineering techniques because attackers put a lot of effort into making themselves appear trustworthy.

Be cautious when disclosing private information to strangers since it might be difficult to spot a pretext’s hoax.

To rule out a social engineering attempt, get in touch with the company directly if someone phones you about an urgent need.

Honey trap

A honey trap is a kind of social engineering approach in which the assailant seduces the victim into an unsafe sexual setting.

The attacker then takes advantage of the circumstance to commit blackmail or engage in sextortion. By sending spam emails with the false pretense that they were “seeing you through your camera” or something equally nefarious, social engineers frequently lay honey traps.

If you get a message like this, ensure sure your webcam is protected.

Then, just remain composed and refrain from responding, since these emails are nothing more than spam.

Quid Pro Quo

Latin means “something for something,” in this instance it refers to the victim receiving a reward in return for their cooperation.

An excellent illustration is when hackers pose as IT assistants. They will phone as many employees as possible at a firm and claim to have a simple solution, adding that “you only need to disable your AV.”

Anyone who succumbs to it has ransomware or other viruses installed on their computer.

Tailgating

Tailgating, also known as piggybacking, occurs when a hacker follows a person using a valid access card into a secured building.

In order to carry off this attack, it is assumed that the person who has permission to enter the building would be considerate enough to hold the door open for the person who is coming behind them.

How you can prevent Social Engineering attacks?

By using these preventative measures, you and your staff will have the best chance of avoiding social engineering assaults.

Educate employees

The main cause of employee fallibility to social engineering attacks is ignorance. To teach personnel how to react to typical breach attempts, organizations should offer security awareness training.

For instance, what to do if someone tries to tailgate an employee into the workplace or asks for sensitive information.

Some of the most frequent cyberattacks are described in the list below:

• DDoS attacks
• Phishing attacks
• Clickjacking attacks
• Ransomware attacks
• Malware attacks
• How to respond to tailgating

Check for Attack Resistance

Perform controlled social engineering assaults on your company to test it. Send false phishing emails, and gently reprimand staff members who open attachments, click on harmful links, or react.

Instead of being perceived as cybersecurity failures, these instances should be seen as highly educational situations.

Operation Security

OPSEC is a method for spotting friendly behavior that might be advantageous to a future attacker. OPSEC can expose sensitive or important data if it is appropriately processed and grouped with other data.

You can limit the amount of information social engineers can obtain by using OPSEC procedures.

Find Data Leaks

Knowing whether credentials have been exposed as a result of a phishing attempt can be challenging.

Your company should constantly search for data exposures and leaked credentials because some phishers may take months or even years to exploit the credentials they gather.

Implement multi-factor authentication

Enforce a multi-factor authentication method that needs users to possess a token, know a password, and possess their biometrics in order to get access to critical resources.

Implement a third-party risk management system

Before bringing on new vendors or continuing to work with current suppliers, create a system for managing third parties’ risks, a vendor management policy, and conduct a cybersecurity risk assessment.

Particularly after stolen data has been sold on the dark web, it is considerably simpler to avoid data breaches than to clean them up.

Find software that can automatically manage vendor risk and regularly track, rank, and evaluate the cybersecurity of your vendors.

Modify your spam email preferences.

Changing your email settings is one of the simplest methods to defend yourself from social engineering attempts. You can improve your spam filters to keep social engineering scam emails out of your inbox.

You can also directly add the email addresses of individuals and organizations you know are real to your digital contact lists – anybody pretending to be them but using a different address in the future is most likely a social engineer.

Conclusion

Finally, social engineering is a rather simple technique that can be used to commit frauds, fraud, or other crimes. It can occur to anybody in person, over the phone, or online.

Social engineers don’t need to be very technical; they only need to be able to con you into giving them private information.

It’s a potentially disastrous swindle since we’re all in danger. Social media has also enabled social engineers to become more crafty by enabling them to create false accounts that are simple to mistake for real ones or even to impersonate actual individuals.

Always use caution while seeing odd or unfamiliar profiles on social media.