To avoid becoming a victim of a social engineering attack:
Be suspicious of unsolicited contacted from individuals seeking internal organizational data or personal information
. Do not provide personal information or passwords over email or on the phone. Do not provide information about your organization.
Which of the following is a way to protect against social engineering?
Follow instructions given only by verified personnel
. While on vacation, a coworker calls and asks you to access a site to review and approve a document that is hosted behind a DoD Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) protected webpage.
The best defense against social engineering attacks is
a comprehensive training and awareness program that includes social engineering
. The training should emphasize the value of being helpful and working as a team, but doing so in an environment where trust is verified and is a ritual without social stigma.
One way to reduce the threat of social engineering attacks is to
put security awareness at the top
of your agenda. Confidential data, intellectual property, and digital systems are only as secure as the weakest users in your organization.
Security awareness training
Conducting, and continuously refreshing, security awareness among employees is the first line of defense against social engineering.
The most effective countermeasure for social engineering is
employee awareness training on how to recognize social engineering schemes and how to respond appropriately
. Specific countermeasures include: Train employees to demand proof of identity over the phone and in person.
Contact spamming and email hacking
This type of attack involves hacking into an individual’s email or social media accounts to gain access to contacts. Contacts may be told the individual has been mugged and lost all their credit cards and then ask to wire money to a money transfer account.
The most common form of social engineering attack is
phishing
. Phishing attacks exploit human error to harvest credentials or spread malware, usually via infected email attachments or links to malicious websites.
- Phishing. Phishing is the most common type of social engineering attack. …
- Spear Phishing. A social engineering technique known as Spear Phishing can be assumed as a subset of Phishing. …
- Vishing. …
- Pretexting. …
- Baiting. …
- Tailgating. …
- Quid pro quo.
Phishing attacks
are the most common type of attacks leveraging social engineering techniques. Attackers use emails, social media, instant messaging and SMS to trick victims into providing sensitive information or visiting malicious URLs in the attempt to compromise their systems.
- Phishing. Phishing is a social engineering technique in which an attacker sends fraudulent emails, claiming to be from a reputable and trusted source. …
- Vishing and Smishing. …
- Pretexting. …
- Baiting. …
- Tailgating and Piggybacking. …
- Quid Pro Quo.
- Baiting. As its name implies, baiting attacks use a false promise to pique a victim’s greed or curiosity. …
- Scareware. Scareware involves victims being bombarded with false alarms and fictitious threats. …
- Pretexting. …
- Phishing. …
- Spear phishing.
- Phishing. Phishing is the most common type of social engineering attack that occurs today. …
- Pretexting. …
- Baiting. …
- Quid Pro Quo. …
- Tailgating.
Social engineering is a manipulation technique that
exploits human error to gain private information, access, or valuables
. … As such, social engineering attacks are especially useful for manipulating a user’s behavior.
A: Some major attack methods used by social engineers include:
online, telephone, personal, and reverse social engineering
.
Examples & Prevention Tips
Social engineering is
the art of manipulating people so they give up confidential information
. … 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.
