Cybersecurity Social Engineering: All You Need To Know
Social engineering is a cybersecurity attack in which the attacker takes advantage of human vulnerability through social contact to breach security to access confidential information or place malicious software in the user’s system. In short, social engineering convinces the user to part with some confidential information.
The key tactic behind social engineering is to take advantage of the human factor (the weakest link in cybersecurity) and their natural inclination to trust. The attacker often poses as a trusted authority, a friend, or an organization’s management to gain the user’s trust.
Now, cybersecurity social engineering can be carried out both online and offline. And the ultimate goal of the attacker is to breach security, extort sensitive information, or just transfer big dollars.
Social Engineering in Cybersecurity Vs. Information Security
Many people confuse and can’t differentiate between cyber security and information security. Like both these forms of online securities differ, social engineering also differs in each case.
- Social engineering in cyber security, as we just mentioned, is a technique to manipulate the human link in the security chain by convincing them to give away some sensitive data.
- Now information security is an umbrella term that also includes cyber security. So, think of social engineering in information as essentially the same act of persuading users to divulge private information.
So, is social engineering a part of information security? Yes! And is social engineering a part of cybersecurity? Of course! Complex social engineering attacks can present in several ways.
Forms of Social Engineering
Social engineering can take place in various malicious forms. Most of these attacks are carried out with some knowledge of human psychology, and social engineering relies heavily on manipulating the user’s behavior.
Take a look at some forms or methods of social engineering here:
1. Baiting
Baiting can use physical media to infiltrate the system of a user. Basically, a baiting attack is carried out by piquing the user’s interest with a greedy offer or some interesting information.
For instance, the attacker will leave a malware-infected drive in a place where the user can easily find it. The attacker will also ensure that the drive will be labeled with something to spike the curiosity like “employee promotion plan” or “salary hike plan for employees,” among others.
2. Phishing
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack in which the attacker dupes the user by posing as someone else to steal data, login credentials, or bank details among others.
Phishing attacks happen in the form of fraudulent communication, usually an email, with a misleading link or malware in some attachment.
3. Spear Phishing
Spear phishing is the same as phishing attacks, but here the attacker poses as a known authority or someone the user trusts.
4. Scareware
Scareware is a kind of malware that employs social engineering to persuade users into purchasing undesirable software. The attacker does this by instilling fear, anxiety, or the sense of a threat.
The most common example of scareware is the pop-up menu that warns the user against some prospective threats and guides you to software or a malicious site to sort the issue out.
5. Smishing & Vishing
As we utilize our smartphones for two-factor authentication, smishing (or SMS phishing) is swiftly becoming the most deadly type of phishing. The attacker conducts a phishing assault via SMS or phishing communications.
In the case of a phishing attempt, vishing entails the adversary leaving you a voicemail or making a phone call.
6. Quid Pro Quo
In this form of social engineering, the attacker, acting as technical support, calls up random numbers and tries to get the users’ sensitive information.
And there are several other forms of social engineering emerging like DNS spoofing, cache poisoning, and pretexting attacks as well.
Examples of Social Engineering
Social engineering attackers come with a goal of either sabotaging your data for personal gains or for thieving valuable information or access for money, among other things. So, it is good to know about a few social engineering techniques.
But how do we identify a social engineering attack? We have shortlisted some social engineering examples to help you understand a prospective threat and potentially avoid it as well.
1. Phishing Emails
These phishing emails might look like emails from a friend or trusted authorities. With an email from a friend, the attackers usually hack a person’s ID (as many use common passwords of all social accounts) which give access to the users’ social contacts on which the phishing emails are sent.
Emails from a trusted authority are targeted at you while the attackers act as some CEO or some trusted financial institute seeking your personal details. This can indicate a possible business email compromise. Phishing emails look like this:
- CEO asking for your help with some foreign funds
- A legitimate-looking email from an institute asking to confirm your card or ID details
- Notifying you that you’ve won a competition
- An email with a link that guides to some website other than the web address in the link
2. Example Of Baiting
A baiting example would be a peer-to-peer site offering amazing deals, an unseen new movie, or new songs. When you click on these links, your system becomes infected with malicious malware that will steal your data or money from your bank account via your credit card details.
3. Response to A Request for Help
Social engineering attackers act as authority or tech supports from big tech firms and send emails acting as if they responded to your request for help. This is bound to make the user curious to land them on a malicious website. The attacker might extract bank account details, among others like this.
4. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Network Attacks
Some attackers will send malware or any virus on a P2P network with an attractive name that users are bound to open. The ‘.exe’ files might contain a game’s name or a name of some recent movie or adult content, among others.
Final Thoughts
Social engineering attacks are malicious, and the attackers will act as some authority or your friend to steal your data, guide you to malicious websites (while posing as a legitimate site), or place malicious malware in your system.
Most social engineering attacks (like phishing attempts) can be avoided by protecting personal or financial information with two-factor authentication or trying to be cautious and alert about social engineering tactics.
