Social engineering in the context of information security is the use of deception to exploit people to acquire sensitive data from them. Social engineering differs from traditional hacking in the sense that social engineering attacks can be nontechnical and dont necessarily involve the compromise or. Fbi agent explores how social engineering attacks get a boost from social media by michael kassner in security on february 6, 2017, 2. The idea behind social engineering is to take advantage of a potential victims natural tendencies and emotional reactions.
The underlying strategy and rationale for social engineering attacks is to circumvent all of the security measures in place by tricking people. With hackers devising evermore clever methods for fooling employees and individuals into handing over valuable company data, enterprises must use due diligence in an effort to stay two steps ahead of cyber criminals. Lets see in detail which are most common social engineering attacks used to targets users. On the anatomy of social engineering attacksa literaturebased. Towards measuring and mitigating social engineering software. Pdf social engineering has become an emerging threat in virtual communities and is an effective means to attack information systems. Successful social engineering attacks often combine sev eral or all of the different approaches discussed above. Social engineering attacks work because its easier for hackers to exploit the natural inclination to trust someone than to figure out a new way to access a computer. Jul 15, 2019 social engineering attacks are not only becoming more common against enterprises and smbs, but theyre also increasingly sophisticated. The social engineering attack framework is then utilised to derive detailed social engineering attack examples from realworld social engineering attacks within literature. Social engineering information, news, and howto advice cso. The most common type of social engineering happens over the phone. Pdf advanced social engineering attacks heidelinde hobel.
Typically, social engineering attacks utilize deliverybased methods, such as email and usb keys, but they can also use other mec. Social media makes way for social engineering securityweek. This paper provides a taxonomy of wellknown social engineering attacks as well as a comprehensive overview of advanced social engineering attacks on the knowledge worker. Human error a common cause of social engineering attacks. Social engineering is the art of tricking people into performing actions or revealing information with the aim of gaining access to information systems or confidential information. Advanced vishing attacks can take place completely over voice communications by exploiting voice over internet protocol voip solutions and broadcasting services. An introduction to social engineering public intelligence. This differs from social engineering within the social sciences, which does not concern the divulging of confidential information. New employees are the most susceptible to social engineering, according to the report, followed by contractors 44%, executive assistants 38%, human resources 33%. How attackers use social engineering to bypass your defenses. Whitepaper on social engineering an attack vector most intricate to tackle. Pdf social engineering attacks on the knowledge worker. Something that makes social engineering attacks one of the most dangerous types of network threats is the general lack of cybersecurity culture. The services used by todays knowledge workers prepare the ground for sophisticated social engineering attacks.
With over 500 million people engaged in social networking of some kind, social engineering becomes much easier to accomplish. An emerging threat actor called gold galleon targets maritime shipping companies, related businesses, and their customers in business email compromise bec and social engineering attacks. Between 2012 and 20 social engineering attacks doubled from 2. Social engineering definition social engineering is the art of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information, rather than by breaking in or using technical hacking techniques. When the victim opens the pdf the malware is being run in the background. Moreover, as recent defenses against driveby downloads and other browserbased attacks are becoming harder to circumvent 18,24,32,36,40, cybercriminals increasingly aim their attacks against the weakest link, namely the user, by leveraging sophisticated social en. May 30, 2018 y ou might have heard the word social engineering. Social engineering attacks are driven by financial needs where hackers try to obtain confidential information about the users to access accounts. Social engineering a successful method of attack posted by jeremy scott. Social engineering for security attacks slideshare.
Successful social engineering attacks often combine sev. Of the last 20 major attacks on corporations, 12 involved social engineeringthats over 70 percent. Social engineering takes center stage with ebay breach without knowing if any cryptographic weaknesses were in play, the more pressing aspect of the attack becomes the apparent use of social engineering, which has become a fixture of cybercriminal strategy. Social engineering is the act of tricking someone into divulging information or taking action, usually through technology. Jun 21, 2016 social engineering is extremely effective for escalating privileges within a network and stealing or destroying data. Jan 01, 2017 social engineering is a kind of advance persistent threat apt that gains private and sensitive information through social networks or other types of communic slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. Other examples of social engineering attacks are criminals posing as exterminators, fire marshals and technicians to go unnoticed as they steal company secrets.
However social engineering is defined it is important to note the key ingredient to any social engineering attack is deception mitnick and simon, 2002. Social engineering news and articles infosecurity magazine. Social engineering is probably most succinctly described by harl in people hacking. Social engineering attacks on the knowledge worker. Smishing and vishing are types of phishing attacks that try to lure victims via sms message and voice calls. The attacks used in social engineering can be used to steal employees confidential information. Last week i had the opportunity to hear kevin mitnick speak at the local technical bookstore in san diego. Avoiding social engineering and phishing attacks cisa. There are several social engineering attacks and techniques such as phishing emails, pretexting and tailgating. Baiting baiting is in many ways similar to phishing attacks.
Tailgating is when someone who lacks proper security clearance following someone who does into a building or area. Part iii of preventing social engineering attacks and how to avoid them. Ii preface this thesis is the end result of the graduation project with the title managing social engineering risk and subtitle making social engineering transparent. Once the car passed me, i merged and followed closely behind. Social engineering the cert insider threat center produced for department of homeland security federal network resilience cybersecurity assurance branch. Categories of social engineering attacks technical and nontechnical in this post, we will take a look at the different categories of social engineering. The paper begins types of social engineering followed by preventive method of social engineering attacks. Understanding social engineering attacks wordfence. Analysis of the collected responses guided us to construct a more refined model of social engineering based attacks.
The most popular social engineering lures used in 2014. Nov 10, 2011 but social engineering can be brutal and it makes unknowing conspirators out of innocent employees. Although a similar attack, it requires an extra effort from the side of the attackers. Social engineering attack lifecycle what makes social engineering especially dangerous is that it relies on human error, rather than vulnerabilities in software and operating systems. Social engineering and phishing attacks jeffrey allen, leon gomez, marlon green, phillip ricciardi, christian sanabria, and steve kim seidenberg school of csis, pace university, white plains, ny 10606, usa abstract social networking sites. The individual is engaging in which type of social engineering attack. Malicious actors who engage in social engineering attacks prey off of human psychology and curiosity in order to compromise their targets information. The study also discusses the prevention techniques which can be used by the employees to thwart the threat of information leakage through social engineering. Introduction the internet has become the largest communication and information exchange medium. Defending your resources against phishing and other social engineering attacks. Social engineering attacks that include interpersonal interaction involve direct communication such as in person or by telephone or interaction that is mediated through electronic means e. Social engineering is the root cause to ideas behind phishing and pretexting where hackers gain confidence of people who are careless or blindly trust others helping them to take undue advantage.
Social engineering differs from traditional hacking in the sense that social engineering attacks can be nontechnical and dont necessarily involve the compromise or exploitation of software or systems. Social engineers expose the fatal flaw in a business. Pdf the advancements in digital communication technology have made. Oct 04, 2016 social engineers reveal why the biggest threat to your business could be you. Mistakes made by legitimate users are much less predictable, making them harder to identify and thwart than a malwarebased intrusion. When an exanonymous hacker sparky blaze was interviewed a year and a half ago, she said. For criminalshackers, social engineering is one of the most prolific and effective means to induce people to carry out specific actions or to divulge information that can be useful for attackers. To access a computer network, the typical hacker might look for a software vulnerability.
However, what distinguishes them from other types of social engineering is the promise of an item or good that hackers use to entice victims. Kevin mitnick is a world renowned hacker who has gained unauthorized access to many secure computer networks, including that of pacific bell, chesapeake and potomac telephone company, dec, trw, gte, and many others. The most common social engineering attacks updated 2019. This article describes how social engineering tests are performed, provides some reallife examples, and discusses what measures can be taken against such attacks. This tip examines what kevin mitnick can teach us about social engineering attacks. Diversion theft involves misdirecting a courier or transport company and arranging for a package or delivery to be taken to another location.
The future of ransomware and social engineering office of the. Keep uptodate with the latest social engineering trends through news, opinion and educational content from infosecurity magazine. In cybersecurity, social engineering refers to the manipulation of individuals in order to induce them. Social engineering exploitation of human behavior white paper. Social engineering and phishing email attacks dionach.
This study describes the impact of social engineering attacks on organizations. These are phishing, pretexting, baiting, quid pro quo and tailgating. Social engineering attacks may combine the different aspects. The attack framework addresses shortcomings of mitnicks social engineering attack cycle and focuses on every step of the social engineering attack from determining the goal of an attack up to the. Phishing attacks are the most common type of attacks leveraging social engineering techniques. Prevention includes educating people about the value of information.
Fbi agent explores how social engineering attacks get a. Of these attacks the bulk were social engineering scams such as phishing 49% and spear phishing 37%. The most common attack vectors for social engineering attacks were phishing emails, which accounted for 47% of incidents, followed by social networking sites at 39%. We are all very familiar with the terms computer virus, hacker, and data breach, but there is another form of a cyberattack, called social engineering. Social engineers use trickery and deception for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or improper computer system access. Safeguarding against social engineering social engineering attacks may be inevitable in the world today for the reason that humans are such easy targets, nevertheless, that does not mean that they are unpreventable. The 7 best social engineering attacks ever dark reading. Jun 25, 2018 social engineering attacks are very effective because humans thats us are usually the weakest and most exploitable link in a secure network. Edmead this article provides examples of how to strengthen your organization against social engineering. Lenny zeltser senior faculty member, sans institute. We discuss these details to help organizations become offensive about possible social engineering attacks and to help mitigate. This technique can be combined with other forms of social engineering that entice a victim to call a certain number and divulge sensitive information. The four main ways in which social engineering occurs is by phishing, in which the hacker uses email to trick someone into giving them access to some kind of account or login or financial.
The attacker must deceive either by presenting themselves as someone that can and should be trusted or, in the case of a. The longstanding attacks shed some light on how combining social engineering and social media was successful in gaining credentials from us military, government and defense contractors. For the purposes of this article, lets focus on the five most common attack types that social engineers use to target their victims. He was there to talk about his new book, the art of deception. Social engineering an attack vector most intricate to handle. A social engineering technique known as spear phishing can be assumed as a subset of phishing.
Verify that the email was sent by the administrator and that this new service is legitimate you have just received a genericlooking email that is addressed as coming from the administrator of your company. Today, social engineering is recognized as one of the greatest security threats facing organizations. Social engineering has emerged as a serious threat in virtual communities and is an effective means to attack information systems. Office communication successful social engineering attacks often combine sev modern communication tools have changed.
Sep 11, 2018 today, social engineering is recognized as one of the greatest security threats facing organizations. Jan 04, 2017 the four main ways in which social engineering occurs is by phishing, in which the hacker uses email to trick someone into giving them access to some kind of account or login or financial. Add social engineering to the list of attacks businesses should be ready for. Social engineering is an attack method that induces a person to unknowingly divulge confidential data or to perform an action that enables you to compromise their system. Towards measuring and mitigating social engineering. Beware of strange questions and suspicious behavior. Social engineering thesis final 2 universiteit twente. How to protect your financial organization from malware. The methods need to be used together to enhance and increase the accuracy of detection so that the social engineering attacks can be stop and prevented. Understanding how social engineering is done, and the types of lures that are usually used, is the first step towards preventing them.
With this humancentric focus in mind, it is up to organizations to help their employees counter these types of attacks. Baiters may offer users free music or movie downloads, if they surrender their login credentials to a. Heres a look at the most popular lures used in 2014. Pdf advanced social engineering attacks researchgate. Social engineering, in the context of information security, is the psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. Social engineering attacks are very effective because humans thats us are usually the weakest and most exploitable link in a secure network.
The 7 best social engineering attacks ever 1 of 9 image, via wikipedia. Social engineering is a term that encompasses a broad spectrum of malicious activity. But social engineering can be brutal and it makes unknowing conspirators out of innocent employees. Social engineering is an attack vector that relies heavily on human interaction and often involves tricking people into breaking normal security procedures. Most of the attacks exploiting both paradigms are effective because leverage the concept of trust on which social networks are built.
A recent iranian cyberspy campaign included attackers posing as journalists. In an organization, employees are the first line of defense and theyre all too frequently the weakest link, so much so that all it takes is one employee clicking on. The truth of the matter is most of the successful attacks are hybrid. What are the types of social engineering techniques. Social engineering has been responsible for successful attacks against private and public sector entities throughout the years, and frankly, it is not hard to understand why. Social engineering in the context of information security is the use of deception to.