Social Engineering Hacks: 4 Ways To Protect Your Business

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jakaria
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Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:26 am

Social Engineering Hacks: 4 Ways To Protect Your Business

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When I say the term hacker, most people immediately imagine an antisocial, lonely, locked in a dark basement, deploying a brute force attack on a corporate network. It's actually surprising how few attacks are executed this way. Only three percent of hacks involve malware, and 97 percent use social engineering. Social engineering hacks infiltrate computer systems by attacking vulnerabilities inherent in human psychology. Greed, fear, and the need to help people usually fuel these attacks. Social engineering hacks are similar to offline scams that a trusted man would run. Think of Frank Abagnale in the movie "Catch Me If You Can". There are a few characteristics of social engineering hacks. They tend to be thoroughly researched because the hacker needs to know as much as possible about their victim. These hackers tend to be quick, able to improvise as the situation dictates. Let's look at some common forms of social engineering hacks and what can be done to prevent them. Phishing I'm sure everyone has received a suspicious email, supposedly from a well-known company (Bank of America, Apple, Google, etc.). Phishing schemes deal with an urgent issue that needs attention, such as an overdrawn bank account or someone logging into your account from Russia. The goal is to log in to fix the problem, but the link leads to a fake login screen labeled with all the company's recognizable branding. This page runs from a server that the attacker controls. Upon logging in, they harvest your credentials, allowing them to access your account to do real damage. This attack does It can also come by SMS (smishing) or via social networks. Phishing attacks are the most popular type of social engineering hack. Proofpoint found that 83% of businesses experienced a phishing attack in the last year. Phishing comes in many forms. The most common method is to spray thousands of emails in hopes of catching a handful of recipients. Spear phishing is a more targeted sending of e-mails, affecting employees of a specific company. In the age of social media, it's extremely simple to bring together everyone who works at a company through a LinkedIn search. With this list, the hacker can send highly targeted emails tailored to these associates. Whaling is a variation on this theme where the hacker focuses on C-level executives to gain access to the high-level information available to them.

Phishing in real life Probably the most publicized phishing hack of recent times occurred before the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta clicked on the link to access his Gmail account and exposed numerous internal campaign data that may have played a role in swinging the presidential race for Donald Trump. tailgating We have all been there. You were rushing out this morning, and you left your key card on the kitchen island. At the office, you wait patiently for the next charitable soul to country email list let you into the building. Hackers also know this trick and exploit this kindness to gain access to restricted areas in which they have no activity. This breach probably wouldn't be possible in a small business environment where everyone knows each other, but with larger companies, it can be easy to transition yourself into marketing as a new guy. Usually, hackers do their research to build a plausible backstory and may even enlist local goodwill to grab a company-branded polo shirt to actually sell it. baiting Baiting offers something of value to the victim which makes it easier to hack. The best example is a USB drive left in an area where an employee will find it. It is retrieved and optionally connected to the corporate network. This drive contains malware that installs itself the second it is inserted. This allows the hacker to take over the user's machine and gain access to the corporate network. Real life baiting Like in a James Bond movie, US and Israeli intelligence agencies teamed up to create a computer worm known as Stuxnet . The worm was created to interact with the programming logic controllers of centrifuges used in uranium enrichment. To infiltrate the Iranian nuclear complex, a USB drive was introduced into the facility by an unwitting actor. Once plugged into the computer network, the worm unleashed itself on the centrifuges, causing them to spin too fast and for too long, damaging equipment. It went for years without being detected. pretending We are wired to obey authority figures and automatically assign trust to those we know.

This packaging offers a juicy opening that hackers can exploit. Someone may be calling as an IT representative needing access to your machine to install software updates. Likewise, the hacker may pose as someone you know, asking leading questions to cement that trust. excuse in real life A few years ago, my grandmother was greeted with a call saying, "Hi Grandma." Since she has four male grandchildren, the caller's voice must have been closest to mine, so she replied, “Mark? " He replied:" Yes, it's Mark. I travel to Europe and I was arrested for possession of marijuana. I need $1000 to get out of jail. Can you wire it to me? " After thinking about it, she said I (copycat hacker) had to call my mom for help, to which he replied:" Oh, it would be so disappointed. I don't want to bother her with this. Can you help me please? I really need to get out of here. Luckily, she stuck to her guns and said no, but you can see how much that excitement could pay off for the hacker. Older people, who are less tech-savvy, are particularly ripe candidates for this deception. Knowing what a social engineering hack looks like is helpful, but it doesn't mean much unless you take steps to actively prevent it. Here are some key measures in the fight against prevention:Safety training People will always be the weakest link in the security chain. Awareness is the best weapon against social engineering hackers. With a good dose of regular training, employees can learn to recognize the signs of a social engineering attack in progress. While the entire business organization should be trained to recognize these hacks, certain departments should be given special attention - those that have customer contact such as customer service, employees who deal directly with accounts banking in finance and accounting, and senior management. Training should be more frequent for these groups to highlight new social engineering hacks that are seen in the wild as well as keep them top of mind.
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