What Is Social Engineering In Cyber Security?
Picture this: you’re sent a message from your bank requesting verification on your account, a phone call from a manager, or an email alert saying your bank account is going to be suspended if you don’t do this ASAP. The situation might look authentic, but it’s a setup that could be carefully planned by an attacker that induces a security blunder.This is social engineering, a cyberattack techniques aimed at people rather than just technology. The goal of an attack is to use trust, fear, urgency, curiosity, or authority to get someone to divulge sensitive information, click a malicious link, transfer money, or provide access to something without their consent. Social engineering is a key component of knowing how to deal with increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. In this blog post, let’s understand the methods behind these attacks, some of the more common methods, and what you can do to protect yourself. What Is Social Engineering In Cyber Security Social engineering is a type of cyber attack that exploits human behavior, not just technical weaknesses. Rather than directly attacking a system, attackers exploit the actions of people to create an opening for their attack. They might pose as an employee, bank representative, IT professional, or other trusted individual to make their request look legitimate. What is interesting is that such attacks usually use psychological motivators like urgency, authority, fear, curiosity, or trust. A victim may reveal a password, divulge confidential information, click on a malicious link, wire money, or grant access without realizing it is being used to manipulate them. This is a difference from many conventional cyber attacks, where the attacker doesn’t have to break the security system in order to gain access, but can simply trick a valid user into doing it themselves. Types of Social Engineering Attacks Social engineering attacks can be conducted in any number of ways. The attackers continually adjust their plans to fit the target and the information they desire and the means by which they can gain a measure of the victim’s trust. The attack can be sent through an email, a phone call, a text message, a social media interaction, or even a face-to-face conversation. Some of the most common types of social engineering attacks include: 1. Phishing Phishing is a fraudulent email, website, or message that appears to be from a trustworthy person or organization. The attacker could attempt to obtain login information, financial information, or other important information. 2. Spear Phishing Spear phishing is much more targeted than a typical phishing attack. The attacker conducts an in-depth study of a person or organization and sends a personalized message that is likely to be more convincing and get the recipient’s attention. 3. Vishing Vishing (voice phishing) is a form of phishing that uses voice communication or phone calls to deceive victims. The attacker can be a representative from a bank, customer support, government, or a company. 4. Smishing Smishing – Phishing via SMS or Text Messages. A message could say a package is overdue, that an account needs verification, or that payment is due ASAP, leading to a malicious link or request. 5. Pretexting Pretexting involves the hacker building a fake story or identifying himself to make the request seem real. They may pretend to be an employee, service provider, researcher, or authority figure to try to get confidential information. 6. Baiting Baiting takes advantage of curiosity and/or the hope for a valuable item. This “bait” may be a tempting download, a freebie, a physical item, or some other promising deal that eventually takes the victim to the security threat. 7. Quid Pro Quo In this situation, the attacker provides something in return for the information or access. For instance, they could pretend to be technical support personnel or another type of helpful service to seek information from the victim or have him or her do something for them. 8. Tailgating Not all social engineering attacks are internet-based. Tailgating describes any physical intrusion into an area that is under protection by exploiting normal social behavior, such as following another authorized individual through a secured entrance. How Does Social Engineering Work? The idea behind social engineering is to take advantage of the most unpredictable factor in cybersecurity – human decision making. Attackers do not depend on technical exploits but rather attempt to manipulate an individual into making a decision that provides information, access or the ability to cause harm. Social engineering attacks usually take several steps, each of which makes the next plausible. 1. Gathering Information Information collection is one of the initial steps in the process. An attacker might search for information that is easily found, like a person’s name, role, place of work, email address, social media, or professional associates. Any information – no matter how insignificant – can be used to make the attacker’s approach more convincing. 2. Building Trust After knowing what they want to accomplish, attackers develop a plausible identity, message, or situation. They can be pretending to be a colleague, customer-support person, bank officer, manager or someone else that they trust. The idea is straightforward: leave the interaction as normal as possible, so the target doesn’t immediately suspect it. 3. Creating Psychological Pressure Trust does not always equal trust. Some of the most common psychological triggers for attacks are urgency, fear, authority, curiosity, or reward. The message could be a threat to suspend an account, which might spur someone to act without taking time to verify the request. 4. Encouraging an Action Once the proper setup is in place, the attacker tries to prompt the victim to perform a certain actions. This might involve clicking a link, opening an attachment, revealing sensitive information, giving a verification code, transferring money or granting access to an account or system. 5. Exploiting the Opportunity The last step is when the manipulation is turned into a real security incident. The information or access gained can then be used to perpetrate identity theft, financial fraud, account compromise, data theft or additional attacks
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