How do hackers use social engineering?
What is the definition of social engineering?
The art of manipulating, persuading, or misleading you in order to obtain control of your computer system is known as social engineering. To acquire unauthorized access, the hacker may utilize the phone, email, snail mail, or direct contact. Examples include phishing, spear phishing, and CEO fraud.
So, who are these individuals? It might be a hacker in the United States looking to cause harm or disruption. It might be a member of an Eastern European cybercrime ring attempting to break into your network and steal money from your online bank account. It might also be a Chinese hacker attempting to get access to your company’s network in order to conduct business espionage.
Top Techniques Used By Social Engineers
1. Pretexting
A made-up event is utilized to interest a potential victim, increasing the likelihood of their biting. It’s a fraud in which the perpetrator uses real information about the victim (e.g., date of birth, Social Security number, etc.) to get further information.
2. Diversion Theft
A professional thief’s deception, generally aimed at a transportation or courier organization. The goal is to deceive the corporation into delivering the package somewhere other than where it is supposed to go.
3. Phishing
Impersonating a reputable company and sending bulk emails to avoid spam filters in order to get sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers. Emails posing as representatives from well-known social networking sites, banks, auction sites, or IT administrators are often sent to mislead the public.
4. Spear Phishing
A tiny, targeted email assault on a specific individual or organization with the purpose of breaching their defenses. The spear-phishing assault is carried out after conducting research on the target and includes a unique tailored component intended to persuade the target to act against their own best interests. Here’s additional information on how they do it.
5. Water-Holing
This strategy makes use of popular and trusted websites that consumers visit on a daily basis. The attacker will acquire information on a certain set of people in order to determine which websites they are visiting, and then test those websites for vulnerabilities. One or more members of the targeted group will get infected over time, allowing the attacker access to the secure system.
6. Baiting
Baiting is the act of hanging something in front of a person in order to get them to behave. It might be a (porn) movie download on a peer-to-peer or social networking site, or a USB drive branded “Q1 Layoff Plan” set out in a public area for the victim to notice. The victim’s PC is infected once the gadget is utilized or a malicious file is downloaded.
7. Quid Pro Quo
In this situation, it’s a benefit to the sufferer in return for information, which is Latin for something.’ Hackers impersonating IT support is an excellent example. They’ll phone everyone they can locate at a corporation and tell them they have a quick remedy and that “all you have to do is turn off your antivirus.” Anyone who falls for it will be infected with viruses such as ransomware.
8. Tailgating
Social engineers use this strategy to get admission to a building or other restricted place. A tailgater follows closely behind an authorized user as they open and pass through a security entry.
9. Honeytrap
A method for getting men to communicate with a fake gorgeous female via the internet. From the days when a genuine woman was utilized as a spy.
10. Rogue
Rogue security software, also known as Rogue Scanner, rogue anti-spyware, rogue anti-malware, or scareware, is a type of computer virus that deceives or misleads users into paying for the fictitious or simulated eradication of malware. In recent years, rogue security software has emerged as a significant and major security problem in desktop computing. It is quite popular, with hundreds of applications available.
Did you know that phishing emails were used in 77% of effective social engineering attacks?
Some Examples from the Real World
1. Phishing
Customers have begun receiving proactive messages from Internet service providers in recent years when they notice suspicious behavior on their accounts. Unsurprisingly, the bad guys have taken advantage of this tendency. Many of the emails are badly constructed, with poor spelling and other errors, but others appear authentic enough for someone who isn’t paying attention to click.
2. Spear Phishing
In a spear-phishing assault, threat actors target potential victims based on their extensive knowledge of them, allowing them to customize the assault. These emails are more convincing than conventional phishing emails and are harder to detect. The assailant is well aware of who and what they are pursuing.
Unlike bulk phishing emails, which may seek to spread ransomware or collect individual login passwords in order to make a fast buck, spear phishers are usually after confidential information, corporate secrets, and other sensitive information.
3. CEO Fraud
Here’s an example of a CEO impersonation effort aimed at a KnowBe4 client. She received an email from someone claiming to be the company’s president. The employee originally responded, but then remembered her training and reported the email to her IT department using our Phish Alert Button, alerting them to the fraud attempt.
4. Social Media
Cybercriminals construct fake social media identities in order to deceive you. They’ll pretend to be a celebrity or one of your friends or coworkers. These profiles resemble the actual thing so closely that it’s simple to be duped. They attempt to imitate a star who the bad guys are well aware of your fondness for
