What is a Social Engineering Attack?
Traditionally cybercriminals take advantage of the system's vulnerabilities to infiltrate into it and conduct malicious activities. Apart from it, another technique that has gained popularity is Social Engineering. Cyberattacks from crypto-jacking to ransomware attacks are increasingly getting common and most of them involve some or the other form of social engineering which exploits a victim's psychological vulnerability.
Social Engineering techniques rely on human vulnerabilities and not on the technical ability of a potential threat actor to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. Since it requires a victim's interaction, social engineering attacks are not a straightforward task. It requires extensive research and several steps of planning to successfully conduct it. A social engineering lifecycle works in this particular order:
Step 1: Malicious actors identify the victims and carry out a comprehensive background check to exploit the victim psychologically.
Step 2: The attacker will try to engage the victim using a fake story.
Step 3: After the victim performs what was intended by the attacker, the attacker will execute the attack using the information gained from the victim.
Step 4: After successfully infiltrating the system, the attacker removes all traces and closes all the interactions.
These techniques induce victims to download malware onto their systems and networks to enact further damage. Some of these techniques include phishing, tailgating or piggybacking, baiting, etc.
During a phishing attack, a threat actor tries to impersonate a credible authoritative figure or organization in an attempt to trick a victim into disclosing personal, sensitive, or proprietary information. While most phishing attacks are targeted towards singular individuals, the broader goal is to compromise one or more systems. Phishing attacks range in different variants including spear phishing, vishing, and smishing. Spear phishing attacks are highly targeted towards specific individuals, organizations, or businesses. For example, attackers may customize their emails or communications with knowledge of an individual’s position within an organization. Vishing attacks use voice communications, especially Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions, to trick victims into calling and revealing personal information such as their credit card number or billing address. Smishing attacks use SMS or text messages to redirect victims to malicious sites or trick victims into divulging sensitive personal information.
Baiting attacks are another popular social engineering trick that exploits a victim's greed for a quick payout. For example, many online ads provide free services to encourage users to click on them. Once clicked, either a fake malware-infected program would be downloaded to the user's system or they would be redirected to some malicious site.
Tailgating or Piggybacking generally involves getting physical access to a building or a restricted area that contains secure and confidential information. Malicious actors can simply follow someone holding the door open for them into the secure building bypassing the building's security protocols.
The question then begs, how do you identify a social engineering attack, and what are the countermeasures against it? The first step to protect yourself against social engineering attacks is to maintain basic security precautions. Avoid downloading attachments from unknown sources, or even attachments sent from familiar email addresses that might seem suspicious in some way. Indications of a scam include poor grammar, unusual formatting, irregular URLs, typos, and inconsistencies. A good rule of thumb is to refrain from giving out passwords or sensitive data over the phone. Social engineering attacks often target lower-level employees who can be tricked into believing managers or executives are requesting certain actions showing authority and fear as a tactic. Proper security protocols should be followed when it comes to transactions involving money.
Some of the countermeasures against social engineering attacks would be to have an active and updated antivirus and anti-malware software on your system to identify possible infections. Enable Two-factor or Multi-factor authentication to protect sensitive information in case a device or account is compromised. Update your operating system to the latest version as well as keep spam filters high. The most important countermeasure against a social engineering attack is education and awareness of your surroundings.
