Social engineering is the art of manipulating people so they give up confidential information. The types of information these criminals are seeking can vary, but when individuals are targeted the criminals are usually trying to trick you into giving them your passwords or bank information, or access your computer to secretly install malicious software–that will give them access to your passwords and bank information as well as giving them control over your computer.
Criminals use social engineering tactics because it is usually easier to exploit your natural inclination to trust than it is to discover ways to hack your software. For example, it is much easier to fool someone into giving you their password than it is for you to try hacking their password (unless the password is really weak).
Security is all about knowing who and what to trust. It is important to know when and when not to take a person at their word and when the person you are communicating with is who they say they are. The same is true of online interactions and website usage: when do you trust that the website you are using is legitimate or is safe to provide your information?
Ask any security professional and they will tell you that the weakest link in the security chain is the human who accepts a person or scenario at face value. It doesn’t matter how many locks and deadbolts are on your doors and windows, or if have guard dogs, alarm systems, floodlights, fences with barbed wire, and armed security personnel; if you trust the person at the gate who says he is the pizza delivery guy and you let him in without first checking to see if he is legitimate you are completely exposed to whatever risk he represents.
How Does Social Engineering Work?
Hackers develop different tactics to support their social engineering pursuits. Most social engineering attacks follow this path:
1. Research the target. The purpose of social engineering is to convince a user that you represent a trusted institution. Social engineers will often attempt to develop a rapport by offering easily obtainable details, such as birthdate or phone number, as evidence of their legitimacy. Much of this information is publicly available, and social engineers typically scout social media to gather this type of vulnerable data.
2. Make contact with the target. The attacker makes contact directly with the target. Social engineers use the information they’ve gathered to validate their fake identity. The target is then asked to provide sensitive information the hacker can exploit.
3. Attack. Using the details they have covertly obtained, social engineers launch their attack. This could involve accessing systems using acquired passwords, performing a classic case of stolen identity or putting the information to use for personal or political gain.
History of Social Engineering
Social engineering is a practice that is as old as time. As long as there has been coveted information, there have been people seeking to exploit it.
The term social engineering was first used by Dutch industrialist J.C. Van Marken in 1894. Van Marken suggested that specialists were needed to attend to human challenges in addition to technical ones. In 1911, Edward L. Earp wrote Social Engineer as a way to encourage people to handle social relations similarly to how they approach machineries.
In modern times, social engineering has come to reference the practice of deceiving people to obtain valuable information, which is often followed up by a cyberattack.
Types of Social Engineering
Social engineering is a general term that refers to a broad range of manipulation tactics used by hackers to acquire information.
• Baiting: Baiting is a social engineering attack where the attacker entices the user with a free item to lure them into clicking on a link. This may come in the form of a free music or movie download lined up with the user’s interests. When the unsuspecting user clicks the link, they become infected with malware.
• Phishing: Phishing is a type of social engineering attack that uses email, phone or text to entice a user to click on a malicious link. The communication appears to be from a legitimate source connected to the user. When the user selects the ill-intentioned link, the user’s device or system becomes infected with malware and data is often compromised.
• Pretexting: This tactic is one more commonly associated with the term social engineering. With pretexting, an individual impersonates a representative from a trusted organization with the goal of acquiring sensitive information. This social engineering technique relies heavily on gathering research before initiating contact with the target.
• Quid Pro Quo: The quid pro quo attack is a variation of baiting. Often known as the “something for something” social engineering technique, the quid pro quo attack involves promising a service or benefit for complying with the request of an attacker. For example, a social engineer may promise a free software upgrade to entice a user to download what is actually malware to their system.
• Reverse Social Engineering: In this kind of social engineering scheme, the attacker convinces a target that they have a problem or issue and then positions themselves with a solution. The target then initiates contact with the social engineer believing that they are able to solve their problem.
• Tailgating: This social engineering tactic is a physical attack. With tailgating, a hacker gains access to restricted areas of a building by following an approved employee into the building and piggybacking on their credentials. In these cases, the social engineer often pretends to be an employee or even a delivery person.
• Whaling and Spear Phishing: These attacks are a variation of phishing and, because they target a specific individual, they require a significant amount of research. In whaling attacks, these individuals are high-profile people, often executives or the C-suite.
How to Prevent and Protect Against Social Engineering
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The best form of prevention against social engineering attacks is end-user training. Teaching your employees how to recognize social engineering tactics and avoid them is of the utmost importance.
Here are some points to help support your training efforts.
• Research any suspicious calls, emails or texts.
• Open attachments only from trusted sources.
• Immediately delete any emails or texts asking for passwords or personally identifiable information (PII), such as social security numbers or financial information.
• Don’t open any emails promising prizes or notification of winnings.
• Download software only from approved sources.
• Be wary of urgent requests or solicitations for help.
• Make sure you have spam filters and antivirus software on your device.
• When in doubt, contact IT to confirm any technology-related requests.