Many organizations have enemies who want to cause problems through social engineering. These people could be current or former employees seeking revenge, competitors seeking an edge, or hackers seeking to prove their worth. In any case, the information gained through social engineering can be useful to anyone who wants to hack an organization. All organizations are at risk of social engineering, regardless of who is causing the problem. Especially given the vast web presence of the average enterprise. Large enterprises spread across multiple locations are often vulnerable due to their complexity, but small and medium-sized enterprises can also be attacked. From receptionists to security guards, executives and IT staff, everyone is a potential victim of social engineering. Help desk and call center employees are particularly at risk because they are trained to help and have immediate access to information.
Social engineering has serious consequences. Anything is possible because the goal of social engineering is to force someone to provide information that leads to unfair profits. Effective social engineers can get the following information:
User password.
A security pass or key to a building or computer room.
Intellectual property such as design specifications, source code, and other R & D documents.
Confidential financial reporting.
Employee personal and confidential information.
Personal information (PII) such as medical records and credit card information.
Customer list and sales outlook.
Etc.
Leakage of any of the above information can result in financial loss, reduced employee morale, reduced customer loyalty, and even legal compliance issues. The possibilities are endless. Social engineering attacks are difficult to defend for a variety of reasons. For one thing, they are not well documented. Second, social engineers are limited only by imagination. There are many ways to recover and protect after an attack. In addition, the stiff and crisp appearance of firewalls and intrusion prevention systems often creates false reassurance and exacerbates the problem.
Social engineering does not know how to attack next. The best you can do to combat social engineering is to stay vigilant, understand the motivations and methods of social engineers, and raise ongoing security awareness within your organization to protect yourself from the most common attacks. That is.
How social engineers build trust to get information
Trust-It’s very difficult to win, but it’s very easy to lose. Trust is the essence of social engineering. Most people trust others until circumstances force them not to trust them. People want to help each other, especially if they can build trust and it makes sense to ask for help. Most people want to be team players at work and don’t understand what happens when they provide a lot of information to unreliable sources. This trust allows social engineers to reach their goals. Building deep trust often takes time, but smart social engineers can earn it in minutes or hours. How do you do that?
Favorability: Who has nothing to do with a good person? Everyone loves politeness. Without exaggeration, friendly social engineers are more likely to get what they want. Social engineers often start building relationships by establishing common interests. They often use the information gathered during the investigation phase to find what the victim likes and pretend they also like it. They can call or meet the victims in person and start talking about the local sports team and how great it is to be single again, based on the information that social engineers have found about them. Some modest and clear comments can be the beginning of a nice new relationship.
Confidence: Trust is based in part on the knowledge that social engineers have and how personal they are. Social engineers also use spoofing. Perhaps impersonating a new employee or colleague who is unfamiliar with the victim. They can even pretend to be salespeople doing business with the organization. They often understate their authority to influence people. The most common social engineering trick is to do something good so that the victim feels obliged to be a team player or team player in the organization in return. How Social Engineers Abuse Relationships to Get Hacking Information
After gaining the trust of the unsuspecting victim, the social engineer persuades the victim to disclose more information than necessary. Whammo-Social engineers can do everything. Social engineers do this through personal or electronic communication that the victim feels comfortable with, or use technology to trick the victim into leaking information.
Social engineering: Deception by words and deeds
A smart social engineer can get inside information from a victim in a variety of ways. They often express clearly and focus on continuing the conversation without giving the victim too much time to think about what they are saying. However, if you are inadvertently or overly afraid during a social engineering attack, the following clues may give them:
Act excessively friendly or enthusiastic.
Mention the names of celebrities in your organization.
Brag about their authority within the organization.
The threat of rebuke if their demands are not respected.
Responds nervously to inquiries (lip purging and fidgeting-especially the hands and feet to control parts of the body away from the face require more conscious effort).
Too much emphasis on details.
Experience physiological changes such as dilated pupils and changes in voice pitch.
Appeared in a hurry.
Refusal to provide information.
Spontaneous information and answers to unquestioned questions.
I know information that outsiders should not have.
Despite being known as an outsider, he uses the words and slang of insiders.
Ask a strange question.
Misspelling of written communication.