Social Engineering

Social engineering is a form of manipulation in which attackers use psychological techniques to trick people into revealing confidential information, granting access to sensitive systems or performing certain actions that are crucial to the success of an attack. Essentially, social engineering aims to exploit human vulnerabilities such as curiosity, trustworthiness, helpfulness or ignorance, rather than exploiting technical vulnerabilities.

Your cookie settings have blocked this video

There are different types of social engineering attacks, including:

  1. 1.Phishing

    This includes sending fake emails, text messages or other forms of communication purporting to come from trusted sources in order to trick users into revealing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords or financial details.

  2. 2.Spear Phishing

    In this method, tailored phishing attacks are carried out against specific individuals or organizations, often using personal information about the target to increase the credibility of the message.

  3. 3.CEO fraud

    Here, the attacker poses as a trustworthy person or authority in order to obtain information. For example, this could be the representation of a technician who needs technical support to gain access to a network.

  4. 4.Baiting

    This method involves enticing people to perform a certain action by offering them an incentive or temptation. For example, this could be the offer of a free download that contains malware.

  5. 5.Quid Pro Quo

    This involves the exchange of services or favors for sensitive information or access to systems. An example would be an attacker pretending to offer technical support in exchange for the release of login credentials.

Social engineering attacks can be difficult to detect as they often target human behavior and are not necessarily based on technical vulnerabilities. However, organizations can conduct training and awareness programs to educate employees about the risks of social engineering and sensitize them to recognize and prevent such attacks.

How can you protect yourself against social engineering?

In social engineering, perpetrators exploit deep-seated human dispositions and needs in order to achieve their criminal goals - such as the desire to help other people quickly and unbureaucratically. This makes it difficult to reliably protect against this form of attack.

To minimize the risk of social engineering scams, the following basic rules should always be observed:

  • Use social networks responsibly. Think carefully about what personal information you disclose there, as this can be collected by criminals and misused for attempts to deceive you.
  • Do not disclose confidential information about your employer and your work in private and professional social networks.
  • Never share passwords, access data or account information by telephone or e-mail. Banks and reputable companies never ask their customers to enter confidential information by e-mail or telephone.
  • Take particular care with e-mails from unknown senders: If there is even the slightest suspicion that this could be an attempted attack, it is better not to react at all if in doubt. If it is a false alarm, the sender may contact you via another channel. Take the time for the 3-second security check.
  • If a response is absolutely necessary, call the sender to make sure that it is a legitimate e-mail.

Sources