What is a social engineering attack?

As you build and grow your business, hearing buzz terms about various cybersecurity risks, you might ask yourself some key questions: What is social engineering, why is social engineering effective and how do social engineers successfully manipulate people? 

The most important question to ask yourself, your leaders, and your cybersecurity team is: How can you protect yourself from social engineering? 

We will address these vital questions and much more in this blog post. 

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What is social engineering? 

Social engineering refers to various deceptive psychological techniques to manipulate someone into thinking certain thoughts, revealing confidential information or performing specific actions. This nefarious concept was adopted by cybercriminals and has become a favorite form of gaining entry into systems to steal information and funds or perform other illicit activities. 

As organizations invest more in cybersecurity tools to improve their defenses, social engineering remains an easy way to bypass those protections. In short, why pick the lock if you can simply trick a human into giving you the key. 

Consider this recent TikTok, posing the question, can you get in anywhere with a ladder? By simply acting like you belong and looking the part (carrying a ladder or clipboard), employees will regularly defer to "authority" and let social engineers walk right into sensitive areas. That same mentality carries over into the digital space as well. 

Clearly, social engineering attacks are an unfortunate and undeniable reality. However, as a business leader, you must find strategies and training to empower your workforce to keep your systems and crucial data secure. Understanding more about social engineering is vital to protect your employees, customers and your organization's reputation. 

Now that we have a basic definition, let's dive deeper into social engineering and social engineering prevention.  

We’ll explore how cybercriminals trick people online and how you and your employees can defend against social engineering fraud and protect against scams and manipulation. 

How do social engineering attacks work? 

Malicious actors in the cyber world may use different media, such as social media, telephone, text messages or email. If employees aren't familiar with the tricks social engineers use, it may be difficult for them to detect these suspicious requests. 

The hacker will play on an employee's sense of duty or desperation. They may call or send an email, posing as an IT professional in the organization who needs to check their computer remotely or verify the employee's login credentials. Social engineering tactics often create a sense of urgency.  

Without proper training and understanding of social engineering and how their best intentions could be used against them, employees may easily fall for various forms of manipulative strategies. 

Types of social engineering attacks 

Bad actors have tried to manipulate people since the beginning of time. The only difference between other forms of social engineering and IT-related deception techniques is the vast cyber landscape in which they do it. 

Consider the fact that 74% of breaches have a human element, and it's easy to see how widespread and effective these tactics are. 

With more information, you stand a much better chance of preparing your employees and management to identify social engineering strategies they may face and how to handle them without incident. 

Let's raise your security IQ and look at the most common types of social engineering attacks to help you and your team identify and prevent them. 

Phishing 

Phishing is a cybercrime where cybercriminals target an organization's employees, contacting them via email, telephone or text message. As mentioned earlier, cybercriminals pose as someone legitimate and trustworthy, such as an IT team member. These bad actors provide compelling reasons to share sensitive data, including passwords, personal information, banking and credit card details. The fraudsters use the information to commit identity and financial theft. 

Spearphishing 

Spearphishing is one of the social engineering examples related to phishing, but it is a far more targeted attack. While phishing sets out to scam large swathes of people using psychological strategies, spearphishing is far more specifically targeted. 

This attempt to acquire sensitive information or access to someone's computer system relies on sending phony messages that seem real. The hackers in these campaigns do more homework to gain insights into their individual targets, identifying their interests, habits and personal vulnerabilities. 

Like other social engineering strategies, spearphishing exploits positive human traits, such as your employees' desire to be helpful or respond positively to authority. One way cybercriminals do this is by compromising an email or messaging system, such as via ordinary phishing tactics, or using an email infrastructure vulnerability to launch a spearphishing attack, notes CSO.