Brief overview of Social Engineering
Social engineering is basically a type of fraud. It refers to the hacking of other people and obtaining information needed from them. This is an art of manipulating people so they give up their sensitive data and information. These cyber attackers are trying to trick you into giving them your passwords or bank information or access your computer to secretly install malware– that will give them access to your secret information as well as giving them control over your computer.
Social Engineering Attacks on Organization
There are many ways to manipulating people or organizations in Social Engineering. Being an individual or organization we should aware of these social engineering attacks. Here are some social engineering attacks that can affect organizations badly and can bring down the organization’s growth.
1- Angler phishing
Angler Phishing is a phishing attack that is carried out via spoof customer service accounts on social media. It is the practice of masquerading as a customer service account on social media, hoping to reach an unhappy customer. Criminals are ready to attack with the name of the company or its social media account username included in the post. You can also read our blog on “How to stay protected from Phishing attacks.“
2- BEC (business email compromise)
BEC (business email compromise) is one of the most comprehensive forms of cybercrime. This email comes from the senior member of the organizations’ staff. The purpose of these kinds of e-mails to seek sensitive information about the organization. Criminals identify a target, exploit information available online to develop the company or its executive’s profile. After that, the attacker starts grooming the victim over a few days or weeks. Once the victim is convinced, start conducting effectual business transactions. The unintentional victim is then given wiring details. Upon transfer, the funds are steered to a bank account controlled by cyber attackers.
3- Pharming
Pharming is a cyber-attack aimed to redirect a website’s traffic to a clone website. It involves a hacker infiltrating a computer system and installing an insecure code that begins website traffic from the system to be redirected to fictitious sites developed by the hacker. This process is done without the victim’s awareness or permission.
4- Spear phishing
Spear Phishing is an email scam targeting specific organizations or individuals. The intention of this scam is to steal data for vindictive purposes, hackers may also intend to install malicious software into the target user’s computer system. It is very tricky to identify without prior knowledge of spear-phishing protection. Spear-phishing criminals target victims who put personal data on the internet. An email appears, from a trustworthy source, but instead, it drives the unknowing recipient to a bogus website full of malware. These emails often use smart tactics to get victims’ attention.
5- Whaling/CEO fraud
Whaling is also known as CEO fraud. It is a kind of spear-phishing attack that targets particular high-profile individuals: mostly, board of directors or those with access to corporate bank accounts. Like other phishing attacks, whaling intends to con victims into downloading malicious software, transferring money, or parting with sensitive or confidential information by using emails that indicate to be from genuine senders.
At Detox Technologies, we help organizations to prevent from these kinds of social engineering attacks by providing regular training sessions to developers as well as employees across the organization on the latest threats that will potentially hamper organizational reputation which can be a blocker for the growth of organization.